Russian streaming services have censored the 2023 Canadian French-language film The Nature of Love, removing dialogue that describes Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov as a “dictator” and changing another line to conceal a character’s homosexuality.
There is a scene in Monia Chokri’s romantic comedy-drama where a husband and wife stroll through a park, discussing their “favorite dictators,” Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov and Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (who stepped down as president in March 2022 to enter a power-sharing arrangement with his son, Serdar, the current president).
In the version available on Russian streaming services, the following dialogue has been removed:
— My favorite dictator? Ramzan Kadyrov.
— But, if I may, I also have a soft spot for that… Gurbanguly, what’s his name…
— The president of Turkmenistan?
Later in the movie, the Russian version alters another scene, changing one character’s line from “I’m a 42-year-old gay man” to “I’m as good a man as they come.”
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