Wide-eyed kiddies in Scarface school play shocker

YouTubers have got themselves into a right old tizz over what is purportedly a bunch of schoolkids acting out a short extract from Brian de Palma bloodfest Scarface: Predictably enough, this thoughful theatrical work hasn't impressed some viewers. One representative critique offered: "whom ever thinks this is "cute" or a …

[SuperTim]

I am a daily mail reader....

And have not yet seen the footage in question, but i must protest in the strongest terms.

I believe the children are our are future, Teach them well and let them lead the way. That's what i say!

This is just teaching them how to create and ultimately destroy a successful drug cartel in the late seventies/early eighties.

I am off to write to my MP.

Harumph

[Jerome 0]

His point is...?

So what point is he making exactly? That we should censor all violent media in case kids get to see it? That it's fine for kids to act in violent plays as long as they come from L.A.? That Marc Klasfeld is cool and edgy and we should all watch his YouTube videos and talk about how awesome he is?

[lglethal]

Trust me...

... if the kids have come from LA they've seen a lot worse then this!

[The Fuzzy Wotnot]

Oh FFS!

Indeed!

Alright Scarface is probably a little too far, but it depends how it's acted and presented.

Kids play out the nativity all over the country, every year! Woman gets knocked up, thinks that it's devine intervention. Her husband, who may be a bit dim, believes her and to avoid getting caught in a wholesale infanticide instigated by some demented despot, decide to up-sticks and move somewhere to have the baby. Baby grows up and starts a cult, sorry, bonafide religion!

We let children as young as 4 play this out?!?!

Lets censor all violent media, so that means you won't be studying any history then! Almost everything that has lead mankind this far, is more or less based on some feud or war!

[Anonymous Coward]

Nativity

Fuzzy Wotnot, if you are going to use the Nativity as a counter-example, at least get a few facts straight.

Mary and Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to be counted / taxed in the great census. It was over a year later that they fled to Egypt to escape the infanticide (the Bible says all males 2 years or younger were targeted).

[Tim Bates]

Nativity again

On top of the corrections made by an anonymous coward, I have to ask, if Christianity is a cult and not a "bonafide religion", what do you consider to be a bonafide religion? Islam? Buddhism?

[z0mb13e]

Aw...

...cute kids doing a good job! Well done...

[Mark Rendle]

Awesome

I love the fact that you can get away with pretty much anything as long as you say you're doing it to raise awareness of the fact that, these days, you can get away with pretty much anything.

Would post more, but I've got to go and add rohypnol and LSD to the water coolers at The Daily Mail.

[lukewarmdog]

Great!

I haven't watched the original or this remake but I can highly reccomend iFlorist to anyone who wants to send flowers at the end of a play.

[Yannick]

LOL

You is owing me new keyboard with beautiful sent & colur to express laughter & joy!

[Version 1.0]

A day early?

You just have to look at this to realize it's an April Fools joke ... maybe next year they'll do "Caligula"?

[Captain Save-a-ho]

A dollar short...

Or maybe they'll do "A Clockwork Orange"? Either way, school plays will likely still never win any awards for good acting.

Not sure why there's so much fuss about this, as it is pretty tame compared to the violence and sex kids see on TV, in school, at home, on in video games. I like the old George Carlin line on this (my adaptation): If kids can deal with the violence at home, they can deal with the violence at the school play. Fuck the children. They get entirely too much attention.

[Anton Ivanov]

Bleah...

Very badly played. Extremely bad acting for a kids play. Apauling in fact.

As far as kids doing non-kids topics in their plays...

Well... My dear offspring's Christmas play this year had a moment in it where a "non-compliant" kid was brought to compliance by the means of using a 1m long syringe with happiness and compliance chemicals. All of that on "Headmaster who has become Prime Minister" _ORDERS_ (any resemblance of Clockwork Orange was probably non-coincidental).

It was same age group by the way - 7-10 and it was a proper school play not a lousy badly done viral. All parents were initially staring with blank stares at the scene asking themselves if they needed a pinch or two and was that real or nightmare. The play got a standing ovation for half an hour at the end so kids doing non-kids topics if done properly is actually something that funnily enough meets the approval of most parents. The key word here is properly of course.

[Robert Carnegie]

Anton, is that "The Demon Headmaster" maybe? (I haven't studied it closely)

I believe it's quite a popular story with the young ones.

Otherwise I'm reminded of the bit in some of Channel 4's "Big Fat Quiz of the Year" shows where some little kids re-enact a news story of the year and you have to identify it. Specific examples escape my memory just now, but topics could include sex scandals, drugs, or MPs' expense claims. I have to guess that the version of the story that the children are told - and I assume it's then improvised, not scripted - is cleaned up a lot before they hear it.

Also the other night I saw an repeat episode of weird comedy show "The Mighty Boosh" where there's a gang of wizards one of whom appears to be a boy aged about ten, to whom and about whom some of the filthiest things are said, but I assume that he isn't actually there when that happens - that the scene is filmed with and without him and cleverly edited. Or that he's Polish and doesn't understand one word of it.

I kind of want to say something too about BBC TV show "Outnumbered", but I don't know what. Maybe just: look it up. The title refers to a family of two adults and three children...

[Anonymous Coward]

Kirk in the Boosh

Nah, the Kirk isn't Polish. He's Noel Fielding's girlfriend's nephew. And judging by the bonus features on the series 3 dvd, was probably there the whole time.

For those who aren't familiar, Kirk is a child Shaman, and a member of the Board of Shaman.

He has admitted to being "an erotic adventurer of the most deranged kind" from the fourth dimension, and a "vehicular menace, mowing down all in his path".

Kirk is renowned by the other members of the Board of Shaman for having the greatest capacity for taking drugs...bless him.

[Robert Carnegie]

Kirk in The Mighty Boosh continued

Well, really he hasn't admitted anything. He just sits there. Supposedly he's a super-shaman who would knock Harry Potter off his Firebolt broomstick and give him a run for his money in "Equus" as well, but he's a sweet little lad (well, in real life he's probably a Goth or a skinhead or an acne victim by now, or possibly a chartered accountant) and I don't like to think about all those bad men (it is a very male-loaded show, isn't it, I suppose Noel Fielding doesn't want anyone there prettier than him) saying those dreadful things about him or to him.

I wasn't sure whether Naboo is a kid too or a midget or something...

I think I heard on radio last night that Noel Fielding is currently occupied writing a Mighty Boosh film?

[blackworx]

The Idiots...

...appear to be winning now & days.

[heyrick]

When I were a lad...

...we shot toy machine guns at each other while our parents were looking, and hit each other when they were not. And you really don't want to imagine what damage we inflicted on each other and ourselves using pipe/chimney cleaner rods after a liberal dose of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". :-) So some kids supposedly (or not?) watched a film and acted out some stuff. What's new here?

Smile, 'cos nostalgia is sometimes better; really looking forward to the final season of Ashes to Ashes for a retro-fix.

[Philip Nicholls]

Ashes to Ashes

Hey come on! Do NOT mention another series of A-to-A without having the sensitivity to say when, how, what rumours blah blah

We expat Brits brought up on Z-Cars and Softly Softly cannot get enough (and I mean that in the nicest possible way).

Cheers

[It'sa Mea... Mario]

Ashes to Ashes S3 etc

Easter-ish IIRC, maybe Easter Sunday? anyway excellent series..

Back on topic-ish: There are certain Japanese films with child actors that westeners with a sensitive disposition should avoid like the plague!!!

I've always been curious about the etiquette around child actors in 18 rated horror films and such, I guess it would be against the law for the child star to go to the premier or whatever but as an actor in the film surely they do get to see the finished film?

Thumbs up for A to A.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ashes to Ashes

Friday 9pm BBC1

[MeRp]

Etiquette and Restricted Ratings

In the US the ratings system is not really a legal restriction, so much as a business decision. Part of that includes an exemption if the minor happens to be with their parent/guardian (or, in many cases, any adult). Presumably a parent who allowed their child to act in an R-Rated film would also allow their child to watch that film, or at least the scenes with them in, so as to improve their skills. Of course, that is probably not always the case; either way, it is up to the parents, not the government nor, really, even the theater (though, of course, the theater always has the right to refuse service to anyone).

The only exception to this is the NC-17 rating, which essentially means X rated. A movie can be rated NC-17 for other causes than sex, contrary to the popularized meaning of X rating. Any theater that agrees (voluntarily) to follow the rating system will not allow anyone under 18 into an NC-17 showing; essentially they exercise their right to refuse service in these cases. Presumably this means that if the movie includes a child actor, said actor would have to convince his/her parents to acquire a copy of the video for home viewing if they were to see it; possibly the studio would allow them to view it there fi the parents agree, but I would imagine virtually everyone involved would probably have to think twice about it since the sheer level of violence, sex, etc that have to be in the film for it to get this rating is probably beyond what almost any adult would feel comfortable showing nearly any minor.

[heyrick]

Japanese films with kids

I laughed so hard I nearly had a <cough> accident </cough> when I heard Hollywood wanted to look to a remake of Battle Royale (Batoru rowaiaru).

Uh... no... It'll be a bunch of over-age actors in matching fitted private school uniforms taking up weapons to fight some bad guy and uphold all the usual American values... oh, wait, that's TAPS. Maybe they'll make it "yet another pseudo-reality TV" not-very-horror film. Again with overage actors.

Seriously, a film with actual children slaughtering each other over a sadistic game rolled out by adults who have grown to be very anti-child... there's no way in hell that'll ever be remade in America. Ignore the 2011 release one on IMDb, it's been "in development" for quite a while.

For those who want a blow-by-blow account in language about as sterile as the account of the crucifiction of Jesus in the King James, try http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/parentalguide Of course, if you get fixated on the violence, you'll miss the clever satire, the humanitarian side, and the sort of character development that the current range of starlet muppets just couldn't handle. And no Takeshi Kitano in a remake.

FFS, what's so hard about subtitles anyway? Most of my current selection of animé comes with little words along the bottom of the picture, and if I'm in luck it is not only a high enough resolution to actually read, but also in English. :-) [running translations from French is sooo mind-taxing]

[Jim Morrow]

Was this the ITV cut?

I think we've just seen the ITV version of this film. It's been cut to shreds. All the gore was chopped out and the sweary words dubbed. Even so, they can stretch the remaining 5 minutes to a 3 hour slot by padding it with ads, trailers, phone votes and rip-off competitions. And it'll still be fucking miles ahead of the other dreck on ITV.

Forget you melonfarmer!

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely...

no one who says, "whom ever thinks this..." should have their opinions of teaching taken seriously?

[Ben Rosenthal]

re: idiots winning

while this is pretty fudging funny, it's not a patch on that cool email of the woman being bummed by a wolf

[Anonymous Coward]

flamebait video causes flamewar

I have a pet bear called Toby and when I take him to the woods he craps there.

[Michael 82]

Say hello to my little friend..

Nuff said!

[Robert Carnegie]

Metro did "Say hello to my little friends"

Which may be why only one person posted it here, or else everybody assumed, as I did, that everybody else would have posted it.

So let's see, other quotable lines... http://www.quotes.net/movies/9989

Wow, is that the script? :-) NSFW! NSFW!

Yaeah, so... "Can't you stop saying fudge all the time?"

(Makes me hungry for them empty calories.)

[jubtastic1]

I just want to say

That was Awesome, more of this sort of thing please

[Anonymous Coward]

heh

Satire how clever

On one hand I think "fail - blaiming it on the tv" as other have mentioned I spent my fomative years leaping out of trees making gun noises with my friends mowing down imaginary enemies for pretty classic reasons (they were evil people invading - being a child is good that way.) You're a parent for a reason, now act like it, oh you don't know how, need a government sponsored course? God I'm depressed.

On the other hand I'm thinking "who are these idiots gettign so worked up?" Honestly grow up and learn how to be a rational thinking human being.

Then I think about myself, am I just falling into the same trap? erck

Then I think about coffee and how I'd like a cup. So I'll go now and make a cup of coffee and hope the world looks a bit brighter, the suns coming out now, I think I'll be fine with a cup of coffee.

[Richard 39]

thats nothing...

I've been forced to sit through High School Musical 1,2 & 3. Trust me this short film is heaven compared to that tripe!

[Dazed and Confused]

better than most school plays

The school plays put on at my kids schools are just an exercise in political indoctrination. Wouldn't be too bad if they bothered to keep up to date but the last one I had to sit through was full of issues which were out lawed years before any of the kids were born.

[Jonathan]

say hello..

...to my very little friend

[Anonymous Coward]

No problems

Personally i see no problem with this vid. ok scarface may not be something that a 7 - 10 year old should be watching, but is it only me who remembers being that age and sneaking a movie that your parents told you you cant watch because it will scare you????

Kids see a lot more gore and violence from this in bloody eastenders nowadays.

Hell in school for a play we done the big drill instructor scene from Full metal Jacket. ok we were 14/15 at the time but this is still considered to be wrong.. NO... these films are fictional and its up to the parents to teach their child not to do it.

Anyone notice how kids are more and more unruley these days, even when i was a kid (and i am not that old only 27) if i mouthed off a police man on the street, i could expect a clip round the ear and dragged home to my parents to explain my behaviour!!! now... nooo their no their not allowed to even look at you... unless to give you a speeding ticket!!!

Just makes me angry that people jump on the band wagon of one parent with an opinion that noone actually cared about in the first place.

Rant over. now to drink coffee. and remind myself that there are other sane and realistic people in the world!!

[Elmer Phud]

that's fine but . .

"in school for a play we done the big drill instructor scene from Full metal Jacket"

did you or did you not give him a reach-around?

It's the sort of thing that would show how kids these days really do care for others and not just think for themselves.

[R J Tysoe]

Sane and realistic people?

"now to drink coffee. and remind myself that there are other sane and realistic people in the world!!"

Judging by your comment, there's one less sane and realistic person in the world than you think.

[RichardB]

Been done surely?

Why does it seem that only one other person can remember having watched Bugsy Malone?

The public really does have an 8 day memory.

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me...

...of the bit in 'Jersey Girl' where the guy's daughter has to do a scene from a musical for school, and picks Sweeney Todd.

[Rob]

I call bullshit on Marc's comment

"aimed at illustrating the pervasiveness of sex and violence in our media culture - and how it blankets children on a daily basis"

Self promotion cause his business is struggling like any other video production business in the recession. If his kids look like dollar signs then yes he his thinking of the children.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bugsy Malone

I expect many people are forgetting watching Bugsy Malone or saying how wonderful it was for fear of being labelled a paedophile. In a world where employment relies on vetting which is tainted by slurs and false accusations that's not surprising.

Paris, a custard pie and a splurge gun; heaven (and legal, unless it's classed as extreme porn these days).

[Alan Lewis 1]

When I were lad

get a life.... when we were young we played "Nazi Concentration Death Camp", which involved strangling a member of the opposite sex. Lord knows why. We were about 7 at the time.

We progressed... to playing "war". Which involved being commandos, pilots (running around with arms outstretched like a plane), alpine ski troops (a sort of ski-ing motion), and the like. We all died brutal bloody deaths from machine gun fire, bombs, grenades, slashed throats. And we machine-gunned pilots who baled out, suspended from parachutes. We'd stuff an arm inside a sleeve to imitate losing a limb to some imagined gory wound. WW2 was barely 30 years before, and most of the teachers has lived through it. They didn't exactly complain about the re-enactment of the Blitz, or the firebombing of Coventry.

Because they knew we were kids, and guess what, unless an adult tells them different, it means naff all to them and is forgotten about... 10mins later will be reading Commando or Warlord, or playing cowboys and Indians and taking scalps ;-) or picking teams for football - and avoiding the fat kid who cant play (but who doesn't go on to become a social misfit, but instead gets on with life!)

But tell a kid thats its "wrong", "sick", "unacceptable" and you'll screw them up.

[John Smith 19]

Little Dunney on the Wold WI version

of Reservoir Dogs.

[Adrian Esdaile]

Er, we DID do Sweeney Todd...

NSBHS/NSGHS 1988 if I recall correctly, might have been a year or two earlier, but yes, schoolkids doing Sweeney Todd. It was a kid's film, wasn't it?

[Tim Bates]

I'm shocked!

They've mixed together 2 rooms when making that set!

[David Sidebotham]

That's nothing!

Some 12 years ago our local school did Chicago, and very well too. Clearly they took the everyday story of murder, illegal substance abuse, corruption and licentious behaviour in their stride. Just normal kids.

[John Smith 19]

@David Sidebotham

"Some 12 years ago our local school did Chicago, and very well too. Clearly they took the everyday story of murder, illegal substance abuse, corruption and licentious behaviour in their stride. Just normal kids."

Just a regular Saturday night in Barnsley then.