Bishops rates Seagal starrer as ‘disturbing’

Hollywood action star Steven Seagal — who shot to movie stardom for his martial arts prowess — may be popular, but count out the Catholic Church as one of his fans.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ film review board, Catholic Initiative for Enlightened Movie Appreciation (Cinema), said Seagal’s latest film, "Half Past Dead," is nothing but a "spectacle of violence."

Cinema gave it a rating of "morally disturbing" and considered its quality as "technically below average."

"Repeated and frequent exposure to this kind of movie can be deadening; deadening, that is, to our humanity, to our sense of sympathy, concern and compassion for victims of violence and other sufferers," Cinema said in its review.

Constantly watching film violence can eventually make people "callous" or less sensitive to "loss of lives or by the tragedies that befall others in real life."

"The culture of violence that we decry has been cultivated with our willing consent and cooperation first in the theater for a film can indeed effectively and negatively influence," the board said.

Cinema also expressed similar concern over the effects of violent computer or video games on children who get a "steady diet of violence for hours and hours in the guise of entertainment."

"How do we protect them from being desensitized? Perhaps we can ask ourselves sometimes, how we can help discourage violence in our real world," Cinema said.