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Set in 1961, at the height of the Cold War, a Soviet captain (Harrison Ford) is given the unenviable task of taking the nuclear missile submarine K-19, pride
of the Soviet Navy, out for a test run. The trip is primarily a propaganda ploy, but rushing to make the sub seaworthy results in many mechanical failures. Personnel conflicts and a near
mutiny also confront the captain, who has to decide whether following his Kremlin orders will risk the lives of his men. Reportedly inspired by actual events. Also with Liam Neeson, Peter
Sarsgaard, George Anton and Steve Cumyn. [2:18]
SEX/NUDITY 3 - Men lined up on the surface of a submarine pull down their pants and expose their bare buttocks. Men also line up on the surface of a submarine and remove
their clothing for decontamination (we see a few bare buttocks). Men and women kiss. A man tells another man to wrap a piece of foil around his "private parts," and men make reference to
their "torpedoes" falling off.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Several men (7 total) go into a nuclear reactor room where a seal is leaking and they emerge vomiting, gasping and with badly burned skin from the
radiation; we see them wrapped in bandages, shivering and bloody later, and one goes blind. A man is hit and killed by a truck and we see some blood on his head. A fire breaks out on a
submarine and after it is extinguished we hear that two men have died. A mouse in a cage twitters and convulses before it dies from radiation poisoning. There are several tense scenes
during drills, and people are injured: a nuclear submarine prepares for a test launch of a nuclear missile and as it reaches the countdown there's a system failure, a man gets his hand
caught as a torpedo is hoisted by a chain (he screams and some blood squirts), a man knocks his head on a torpedo (he has blood on his forehead), men are knocked over, and food and other
objects are thrown onto the floor when the ship dives. A submarine crashes through a thick layer of ice as it rises to the surface and the men on board are thrown around. Two men hold
another man at gunpoint. A man jumps overboard as a sub begins to dive. There is a reference made to 10 men having died before a submarine leaves dock. As a submarine dives the officers
talk about "crush depth" and we see the hull beginning to buckle under the pressure. A missile is launched and we see a large smoke and fire plume. We hear of men dying from radiation
poisoning.
PROFANITY 2 - 2 obscene hand gestures, 1 scatological term, 1 anatomical term, 2 mild obscenities. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - War, the Cold War, communism, nuclear war, religious icons, propaganda, treason, surrender, courage, fear, heroism, authority, duty.
MESSAGE - War is inevitable, it's just when and who will strike first. Authority can be dead wrong.
(Note: People are shown drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes in several scenes. There is a conversation about a man being drunk on duty; he's found sleeping. A man talks to
Russian sailors about American propaganda and shows a film containing scenes of civil rights struggles: the KKK burning crosses, African-American people being beaten with clubs, attacked
by guard dogs and sprayed with water cannons, etc.)
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