SALT

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SALT is an action espionage thriller starring Angelina Jolie as CIA agent Evelyn Salt. She is forced to go on the run after being accused by a defector of being a Russian deep-cover sleeper agent. The film was classified ‘12A’ for moderate violence and one use of strong language.

The BBFC’s Guidelines at ‘12A’/’12’ state ‘Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context.’ SALT includes several dynamic and fast-paced fight scenes but very little is seen in terms of blood or injury detail and the violence never exceeds moderate in strength. The film begins with a torture / interrogation scene set in North Korea, during which it is inferred that a plastic tube is forced into Salt’s mouth and filled with water. There is, however, almost no discernible detail and Salt is soon released as part of a prisoner exchange, a bruised and swollen left eye being the only evidence of her ordeal. Otherwise, the strongest sequence probably occurs when the defector, Orlov, attacks and kills his CIA guards in an elevator. The kicks and strikes are very crunchy but very little detail registers. Orlov is armed with a flick-knife shoe, the small blade of which emerges Rosa Klebb fashion from the front of the sole, but this is seen only briefly at the beginning and the end of the fight sequence. In one other scene of particular note Salt overcomes her police escort and controls the police car from the back seat by repeatedly using a Taser (stun gun) device on the head of the police driver, causing his body, and in particular the leg operating the accelerator pedal, to spasm. That said, there is again very little detail that registers, with Salt’s actions for the most part being implied rather than clearly seen.

The Guidelines at ‘12A’/’12’ also state ‘The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.' This film includes one use of that particular term that is neither aggressively delivered nor directed.

This film was originally shown to the BBFC in an unfinished version. The BBFC advised the company that the film was likely to receive a '15' classification but that the requested '12A' certificate could be achieved by making cuts in six sequences in order to reduce a scene of torture, four violent scenes and a scene of strangulation. When the finished version of the film was submitted, all six scenes had been reduced acceptably and the film was classified '12A'.