Ultime Grida Dalla Savana - Controversy

Controversy

Due to its graphic content, Ultime grida dalla savana has encountered censorship issues with certain countries' film boards. In Australia, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) banned both an uncut and cut version of the film in 1976. An appeal filed later that year was denied. Ten years later, the home video distributor Palace Video brought the same cut print before the film board and it received an R18+ rating. The cuts include segments from the lion attack, the torture and murder of the indigenous man by mercenaries, the death of a fox by a pack of hounds, and the death of a stag by a hunter in the opening scene.

The film faced similar censorship problems for its theatrical release in the United Kingdom. In 1976, nearly 10 minutes were cut before it was passed with an X-rating by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). Various scenes of animal cruelty, a race between cheetahs and ostriches, the lion attack, and the mercenaries' hunt of Amazonian natives were all cut from the British release. The scenes of animal cruelty were targeted by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) to be cut from the film, specifically the hunt and disembowelment of a puma. Also in 1976, the Valtion elokuvatarkastamo, the Finnish film classification board, banned the film in Finland in its entirety for the inclusion of scenes of genuine human death.