Algeria bans 'Barbie' almost a month after movie's local release

The “Barbie” movie was taken out of theaters in Algeria this week.
The Ministry of Culture and Arts told cinemas in Algiers.
The government didn’t explain why they did this.

The “Barbie” movie was taken out of theaters in Algeria this week, about a month after it started showing there.

The Ministry of Culture and Arts told cinemas in Algiers, Oran, and Constantine to stop showing the movie right away.

The government didn’t explain why they did this. Nobody from the ministry or the Algerian Audiovisual Regulatory Authority explained why they made this decision.

“Barbie” opened in some some Algerian cinemas last month. The film’s distributors removed the Hollywood blockbuster from their screening schedules starting this week..

This happened because the governments in Kuwait and Lebanon banned the live-action Barbie movie. They said the movie could be a problem for traditional values.

Some people in Algeria protested the cancellation on social media, posting their complaints along with the hashtag “#IAmBarbie.” Others denounced it as “censorship” and “bigotry.”

“The ‘Barbie’ film ‘is a threat to morality,’ they say,” writer Leila Belkacem posted pn her Facebook page. “What morality are they talking about when the censors gorge on porn films at home? Aren’t you tired of dragging the country into your dark delusions?”

Fatima Ait Kaci, who used to be a teacher, said she had told her two granddaughters, who came from Canada, that she would take them to watch the “Barbie” movie. But when they got to the Riadh El Feth cinema in Algiers, they found out that a different movie was playing from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. She didn’t know about the change until they arrived.

Algerian authorities “don’t have the courage to take responsibility for this shameful act of censorship,” she said.

Algeria bans ‘Barbie’ almost a month after movie’s local release

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