Unlike the MPAA we do not assign
one
inscrutable rating based on age, but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE
and PROFANITY on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest,
depending on quantity and context.
A young, poor orphan in 19th-century Belgium
endures many hardships but never gives up his dream of becoming a famous artist one day.
With Jack Warden, Jeremy James Kissner, Jesse James, Jon Voight, Steven Hartley, Cheryl
Ladd, Madylin Sweeten and Bruce McGill. [1:41]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - A boy kisses a girl on the cheek, and a boy and girl look as
if they are about to kiss as a scene ends. We see, from the back, a woman who appears to
be buttoning her shirt as a drunken, fully clothed man lies on the ground in front of her
(no nudity is visible; it's mildly implied that they've had some sort of sexual
tryst). We see a shirtless man.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - In one scene, a man threatens and tries to cut two other
men with a knife; a brief knife fight follows, and as the man is about to hit another with
a large cleaver, a dog knocks him down and into a stairwell (we see the lifeless man lying
on the steps with some blood on his face). In a dream sequence, we see a boy lying in a
casket during his funeral procession. A man appears to have trouble breathing, then falls
to the ground and dies. We see a woman lying in bed, looking very pale and sweaty, then
closing her eyes and dying. A boy stumbles in the forest during a snowstorm and passes out
in a snow bank. A drunken man yells at a dog, whips it repeatedly and leaves it in a
forest (we hear it whimper and see some blood on its fur); a boy later rescues the dog. A
priest yells at and chases a boy after his dog knocks over an urn for collections; also, a
man chases after a boy and his dog, verbally threatens them and throws the boy to the
ground. A barn is engulfed in flames. A boy and girl playfully throw mud at each other and
a man throws a girl's doll into a puddle. We briefly see a man's red, blistered
feet as he rubs them. We see a painting of Jesus Christ's crucifixion with some blood
visible on his body.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Orphans, death of loved ones, poverty, class systems,
artistic ability, out-of-wedlock births, honesty, false accusations, lying, determination,
friendship.
MESSAGES - You can't judge someone's moral character by their
wealth (or lack of); never give up on your dreams, no matter how impossible they seem; God
has a plan for everyone.
A CAVEAT: We've gone through several editorial changes since we
started covering films in 1992 and some of our early standards were
not as stringent as they are now. We therefore need to revisit many
older reviews, especially those written prior to 1998 or so; please
keep this in mind if you're consulting a review from that period.
While we plan to revisit and correct older reviews our resources are
limited and it is a slow, time-consuming process.
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