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Denzel Washington's directorial debut focuses on a true story, the life of Antwone "Fish" Fisher, a studio
security guard who became a writer and Hollywood producer. When he was a young man, Fisher (played by Derek Luke) was a sailor prone to
violent outbursts and fistfights. Sent to a Navy psychiatrist (Washington) for help, he eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific
childhood rife with abuse and embarks on a search to find the family that abandoned him as a baby. Also with Joy Bryant, Salli Richardson
and Stephen Snedden. [1:53]
SEX/NUDITY 4 - A woman kisses a man tenderly, they begin to kiss, she removes his jacket and they kiss and caress each other
and we hear later that they have had sex. We hear a woman telling a young boy to take off his pants, then hers, then telling him to kiss
her -- we listed to him as an adult describing repeated rapes by this woman when he was young (please see the Violence/Gore
category for more details). A man and a woman hug and kiss several times in different scenes, and a woman kisses a man on the cheek.
People dance in a club scene: women wear outfits that reveal bare abdomens, cleavage, and bare thighs. A man and a woman flirt in a few
scenes and he asks her out on a date. We see bare-chested men wearing towels wrapped around their waists, in a shower room. A woman's
nightgown reveals cleavage, and a woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A man says, "she's the only woman I've ever seen
naked."
VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A man holds a gun to a man's head during a convenience store robbery, the man behind the counter shoots
the robber in the head and blood splatters on the windows, the door and on another man. A woman shoots a man in the stomach with a
shotgun, the man falls down stairs and we hear that he died. Stories are recounted of young boys being beaten and sexually abused by two
women: we see two boys tied to a post by the hands and beaten on the backs with a wet towel (one boy becomes unconscious), a boy tied to a
pole is threatened by a woman waving a flame in his face and is then locked in a dark basement, and a woman slaps a boy in the face, asks
him to kiss her and we hear her telling him to take down his pants, then take down her pants (he describes the rape in a later
scene). A woman hits a boy twice with her shoe, he grabs it and yells at her. A man punches another man in the face, is pulled off
him by other men, and he lunges at the man again. A man shoves a man and yells in his face, and a man shoves and tackles a man to the
floor. Two men drag a man -- who is struggling -- into another man's office. A man talks about his mother chasing him down the street
holding a brick; she apparently threw it at him and it hit him in the head. We hear that a baby was born in jail and never claimed by his
mother after her release. A woman confronts a man about changes in their relationship. Two boys put grasshoppers down another boy's shirt
and he runs and yells. Men talk about slave and master behaviors.
PROFANITY 5 - 3 F-words, 1 scatological term, 4 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, 17 derogatory terms for
African-Americans (one character uses the term instead of a name for three young boys in her charge), 1 derogatory term for homosexuals, 1
derogatory term for Caucasians, 2 religious exclamations. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Child abuse, adoption, abandonment, foster parenting, virginity, slavery, the Vietnam war, reform
school, psychiatric counseling, friendship, dependence.
MESSAGE - We have to be able to forgive to be able to live our lives and to love.
(Note: People drink alcohol.)
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