A movie that no one can watch

Controversy has been the lifeblood of Britain’s top award for modern art, and this year is no different: One nominee is too sensitive to display in full.

“This work has been removed temporarily following legal advice,” says a dark screen within a film installation titled “The House of Osama bin Laden.”

The installation by Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, along with works by three other nominated artists, was shown at a press preview Tuesday. It opens for public display at the Tate Britain museum in London today.

The legal concern about the film stems from the current trial in London of Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, an alleged former Afghan warlord charged in Britain with conspiring to kidnap and torture in his homeland. The museum would not comment in detail on the relationship between the film and Zardad’s trial.

The Turner Prize, honoring the best work of a British artist under age 50, is gleefully awaited each year and regularly derided for relying on shock value at the expense of traditional forms of art. The winner, to be announced Dec. 6, receives a $45,000 prize.

The other nominees: Jeremy Deller’s multimedia “Memory Bucket,” which centers on a film he made in Texas; “Twelve,” a work about reincarnation by Kutlug Ataman; and several works by Yinka Shonibare.