THE British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has been forced to defend its decision to award record-breaking Batman film The Dark Knight a 12A certificate after receiving more than 80 complaints about the film’s content.

The film is littered with violence as Heath Ledger’s psychopathic Joker determines to create chaos in Gotham City and takes on both the Mob and Christian Bale’s superhero.

But there have been complaints focusing on a couple of particular scenes which have been described – by some – as glorifying knife violence.

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith singled out Ledger’s Joker for particular concern in a letter he wrote to The Times newspaper, saying: “I was astonished that the board could have seen fit to allow anyone under the age of 15 to watch the film.

“Unlike past Batman films, where the villains were somewhat surreal and comical figures, Heath Ledger’s Joker is a brilliantly acted but very credible psychopathic killer, who extols the use of knives to kill and disfigure his victims during a reign of urban terrorism laced with torture.”

He added that he felt the film was “relentlessly violent” after taking his 15-year-old daughter to see it.

Another scene, in which The Joker is beaten repeatedly by Batman in a police cell, also drew complaints.

But Sue Clark, of the BBFC, clarified the position taken by the board by stating that the prison cell scene refrained from showing the blows, which were “masked from the camera”, and there was “no sign of injury”.

She also felt that the sequel was a fantasy movie with only implied violence – although she did concede that the board had carefully considered giving it a 15 rating and added that it would have denied an important part of the fanbase the chance to see the film.

Under the rules of classification, a 12A rating should not “dwell on violence” and “does not emphasise injury or blood”. Ms Clark went on to emphasise the fantasy nature of The Dark Knight and its basis in comic books.

“Batman can jump off buildings and fly and The Joker is not a realistic character and bounces back with a smile on his face,” she opined.

She also pointed out that the number of complaints was low relative to the number of people who had seen the film – only 82 compared to the estimated 4.7 million who have seen it to date.

But as the row intensified over the classification, another MP, Keith Vaz, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, wrote to The Independent to state that the certificate was, in his opinion, too low.

He wrote: “The BBFC should realise there are scenes of gratuitous violence in The Dark Knight to which I certainly would not take my 11-year-old daughter. It should be a 15 certificate.”

Read our review of the film

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