See It. Censor (2021) Review

I had two options for this week’s review. One was a Netflix horror called The Devil Below, which is bland beyond description. The other was Censor, which is a masterpiece. You can guess which one I chose.

It’s the 80s’ and England is enduring the era of the ‘video nasty.’ Enid is a film censor who has to watch countless low-budget horror films and determine whether or not they’re safe for the British public. One film she has to view she becomes obsessed with as it contains a scene that is eerily similar to the disappearance of her sister, which she witnessed. Enid investigates and tries to track down the film’s writer and director, all the while her sanity disintegrates.

The Characters

‘The Protagonist’ would be a more appropriate heading to be honest as I believe Censor can be accurately described as a character study. Enid is our primary surrogate in the narrative. All the other characters, even the ones who’re on her side like her parents, oppose her in some way. Her superiors question her censorship choices, a producer for one of the films she redacted sexually harasses her, when she suspects her sister may still be alive her parents urge her to move on. Enid struggles alone and we’re with her every step of the way.

She’s introverted, dedicated to her job even while receiving aggressive phone calls from people who dislike her censoring. She’s clearly traumatized by her sister’s disappearance however, despite being our protagonist, there’s a lot we don’t know about Enid. The flashbacks to the actual incident where her sister vanished are vague. We don’t know what part, if any, Enid played in the incident, whether she was just a witness or perhaps an actual participant.

Her ambiguity makes her engaging. As soon as you learn about her sister and see the mysterious flashbacks that follow, you know something’s up. You know she’s hiding something and you’ll stick around till the very end to see what.

The Themes

Censor comments on a lot of issues, including censorship obviously, trauma, deprivation, austerity and the cinematic genre of horror. The mise-en-scène in certain sequences reflect these themes beautifully. Most of the film has a confined, gritty, sickly mint look curtained in cigarette smoke, a more realistic depiction of the 1980s’ than most in the recent wave of 80s’ nostalgia.

When Enid is viewing an in-universe video nasty, the film she sees looks exactly like most of the Italian horrors that were included in the UK’s list of banned titles. From the extreme gore to the magenta lighting, it’s a gorgeous homage to those films.

Like the protagonist herself, Censor is ambiguous in that it doesn’t make such a clear stance with some themes as it does with others. This is especially the case with its handling of its censorship theme. The film criticises it a lot but it doesn’t go as far as saying all censorship is bad.

The film provides an authentic and haunting glimpse at a period in British history which, in the age of video games and social media, is worth remembering. With a superbly written main character and a mature approach to its themes, Censor is honestly one of the best and most original films I’ve seen this year. The only legitimate flaw I can think of is, when trying to convey a certain theme, some of its dialogue isn’t really subtle. Apart from that, it’s brilliant. I highly recommend it to everyone.

I can’t remember the last time I gave a film this rating but I’m giving Censor an outstanding 9 out of 10.