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Focus | 2001 | PG-13 | - 4.5.3

A man (William H. Macy) leads an unassuming life in a Brooklyn neighborhood towards the end of WWII. But his life is turned upside down when he gets a new pair of glasses. He experiences discrimination and anti-Semitism firsthand when this subtle change in appearance makes his employer and neighbors think that he is Jewish. Also with Laura Dern, David Paymer, Meat Loaf and Kay Hewtrey. [1:44]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - A man and woman kiss on a street, he picks up her skirt (we see her thigh and stocking top) and grabs her buttock, and when she begins to resist him he becomes violent (see Violence/Gore). We see this scene a few times with additional details: the man tears open the woman's dress (we see the top of her slip). A man and woman are in bed completely covered by a sheet and play romantically. A man and woman kiss and roll around on the grass (we see the woman's thigh and stocking tops), and another man and woman lie on the grass talking, then begin to kiss and roll around. A man touches a woman's thigh. A woman models dresses for her husband and moves about suggestively while the man watches and appears aroused. A woman wears an outfit which exposes her bare midriff, a woman wears a tight red dress which reveals some cleavage, bare shoulders and back, a man dreams of a woman wearing a slinky slip. A woman walks provocatively (she's dressed in a figure-revealing dress which shows her thigh and cleavage) down an aisle toward an office and is admired by a man sitting behind a desk. A man and woman dance and hold each other.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A man and woman kiss on a street, he picks up her skirt (we see her thigh and stocking top) and grabs her buttock, and when she begins to resist him he hits her across the face and slams her to the ground behind a car (we hear later that she has been beaten, raped, is in a coma and eventually dies). We see this scene a few times with additional details: the man tears open the woman's dress, the man hits her across the face. Five men follow a man and woman as they walk down a dark street, surround them and begin shoving them around; the man is hit several times, the woman is shoved and runs, another man joins the fight with a baseball bat (the two men proceed to beat the aggressors with the bats until they retreat). A man is grabbed, slapped in the face and thrown down some stairs (we see him with a bloody nose and a scratch on his forehead). We see a Union Crusader meeting where messages of hate and intolerance are delivered by a man of the church and the crowd get riled up ready for a fight. We see a scene in a movie where a woman says "they wouldn't kill the children just because they are Jews" and we see a train-load of people. There are several scenes with heated arguments, and there are references to a fight and a beating. A man eavesdrops at a basement window and is nearly caught. People are repeatedly discriminated against and it can be painful to watch; a couple is turned away at a motel, people refuse to buy newspapers from a man because he's Jewish, want ads read "gentiles only" and "Christians only." Two men's garbage cans are dumped over and the garbage is strewn all over the lawn and sidewalk (this happens in two scenes).

LANGUAGE 3 - 1 anatomical term, 3 mild obscenities, 2 religious profanities, 6 derogatory terms for Jews, 3 derogatory terms for African-Americans, 1 derogatory term for Hispanics, 1 derogatory term for Italians, 2 derogatory terms for Germans, 7 religious exclamations.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Anti-Semitism, racism, discrimination, World War II, space travel, making the wrong impression, Union Crusaders, Christianity and Christian values, Communism.

MESSAGE - Discrimination is illogical and evil.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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