An Italian court has barred youths under 14 from seeing Mel Gibson’s gory new film, Apocalypto, overthrowing a decision by the country’s censors who had deemed the movie fit for children. The censors drew widespread criticism from politicians and parents’ associations last week when they failed to impose any age restriction on the film, unlike most countries where it has been released. Apocalypto is set during the Mayan civilisation. The main character is Jaguar Paw, a hunter whose idyllic jungle life ends when Mayan warriors attack his village, burning huts, raping women and taking men to be human sacrifices. The most gruesome scenes involve an orgy of Mayan bloodletting meant to satisfy their gods and stem an outbreak of smallpox. Human hearts are ripped out of bodies and heads of the victims tossed down the side of a pyramid. The court’s ban is temporary pending a January 17 hearing, said a lawyer for Codacons, the consumer group that brought the case in favour of setting an age limit. After Italy’s court ban, only Russia is screening the film without an age restriction. The movie opens in Australia on Thursday with an MA rating, meaning it can only be seen by children aged 15 and over. It has received age-18 certifications in the US, Britain and Germany. In the UK, it has claimed the box office record for the biggest opening weekend for a foreign language film, taking £1.3 million ($A3.3 million) at the British box office since its release on Friday. The previous record-holder, Hero, took £1.05 million ($A2.62 million) in 2004 during its opening weekend. Agencies.

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