So what's in the 7 missing mins.???

I have researched this because I wanted to see the original version, and the best I could find was a 131 minute German version with English subtitles. It's actually 2 hours, 10 min. and 49 seconds. I watched it, and it included the harrowing scenes that upset Roger Ebert. He said it was 138 minutes and so does IMDB. If you look on amazon, there is an import that says it is 138 minutes, but it costs over $500. The $12 dvd is 112 minutes. Other versions vary in length. I do wonder what is going on. The nearest to an answer I could find online was that the Germans felt that US viewers couldn't take the graphic sex and drugs so some of it was cut before it was released. However, that doesn't explain why the German version is 131 minutes also. And it doesn't explain why it was said to be uncut for American DVD and Blu-ray release. I have a feeling there is no 138 minute version and it was a misprint that has been repeated again and again. But if there really is a 138 minute version, this might be the explanation: in the 131 min. version, a lot of the horrible stuff is in what is said, not shown. If they trimmed seven minutes of the shooting up scenes and sex scenes, we are not missing anything that would change the story.

Update: I watched the German Blu-ray (no subtitles) 131 min. side by side with the German PAL DVD with Swedish subtitles 126 min. There was not even a second missing. What happened was that one was slightly faster. It would gain a second or two every few minutes.

I still think there is no 138 minute version. If someone has a DVD or Blu-ray which actually says 138 min., please watch it and time it by the clock. As no one has posted the differences in all these years, I think that speaks for itself. As well, I read a review from the year 2000 that said the UK censors passed the film in its uncut version for the first time. No, I don't have the UK version to compare, but why would it be more authentic than the German Blu-ray? The correct time appears to be 2 hours, 10 minutes, 49 seconds, if it's not slowed down or speeded up.