Bertolucci vs. Yankee puritanism

DIRECTOR Bernardo Bertolucci’s angry reaction to 20th Century Fox’s insistence on cutting sex and nudity scenes in his film “The Dreamers” is a vivid reminder of the differences between American sexual mores and those of other countries (“Bertolucci Lashes Out at Studio Over Film Cuts,” by David Gritten, Sept. 2).

Most people believe puritanism is the same everywhere when, in fact, the American variety is the most extreme in the Western world.

The English dissidents who migrated to North America in the 17th century came from a radical fringe that objected to the moderate policies of mainline Puritans. Unable to influence church leaders, they crossed an ocean to set up their unyielding theocracy in the wilderness, far from all worldly corruptions.

Eventually, the Puritans’ commitment to education produced an intellectual renaissance in which moderate Congregationalists and liberal Unitarians replaced the dogmatic old church. But the Puritan mind flourished among farmers who migrated south and west.

Sophisticated films play well in big cities and university communities, but studio executives are afraid to offend the conservative Protestants who dominate the rural South and Midwest. The studios could not care less about sex and nudity. All that matters is profits.

Forrest G. Wood

Bakersfield

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FOX Searchlight’s attempts to trim Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci’s latest effort for domestic release are disturbing on a number of fronts: Why now? And why someone of Bertolucci’s stature?

Although it often opens the door to dramatic indulgence (on the artist’s part) and begets dramatic disappointment (on the audience’s part), for some of us diehard movie lovers there remains a shrinking pantheon of filmmakers for whom attendance is mandatory. We may quibble with the story, the skills may be eroding, the early reviews may even be caustic. But we show up.

With over three decades of filmic excellence -- challenging subject matter and bravura storytelling -- Bernardo Bertolucci surely deserves this salutary benefit of the doubt.

Peter Little

Monrovia