|
Adapted from the Charles Dickens novel of loss and survival: 19-year-old Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam) and his
family are left penniless after the sudden death of his father, and his sister and mother go to London to seek help from their greedy
uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer). The uncle's intentions are hardly benevolent, and he tries to break up the family by sending Nicholas
to a school run by a cruel, abusive headmaster. Also with Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent and Anne Hathaway. [1:48]
SEX/NUDITY 3 - A man and a woman kiss and hug a few times. A man flirts with a young woman forcibly, pulls a curtain saying,
"I'll get what I want," and the young woman runs out from behind the curtain in tears. A young woman is teased by many men and one takes
bets that she will not look him in the eye and tell him that, "she does not want him to make love to her"; she runs from the room
trembling and in tears. We see a woman's bare legs after she has given birth (we see a bit of blood on the sheets around her and on the
baby). We see a portrait of a nude woman in the background of one scene. We see a nude baby boy (including his penis) at the time of
delivery. A man is bare-chested. Women wear low-cut dresses that expose cleavage.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A man hangs himself (we see his legs dangle and swing). A shirtless boy is tied by the hands to two beams
and a man begins to whip him on the back with a cane, another man takes the cane away and beats the first man into submission. A man is
hit on the head with a stick (it looks like an umbrella or a cane), his head starts bleeding, and he then shoves the other man back into a
wall and holds a fist up to hit him. A man hits a boy on the head, and he falls to the ground cowering, a woman hits a boy's hand with a
spoon, a man hits a boy on the bottom with a cane, a man shoves a boy to the floor, and a man hits a boy with a cane. We hear about a
woman operating on a boy's abscessed tooth with a penknife. A boy talks about being kept in a small room and fearing what might come up
through a hatch in the floor. A man flirts with a young woman forcibly, pulls a curtain saying "I'll get what I want," and the young woman
runs out from behind the curtain in tears. A man puts a bag over a boy's head, drags him away and leaves him tied up in a room. A woman
force-feeds boys a mixture that looks like tar (she calls it brimstone) and the boys moan and hold their stomachs. We see the bloody
umbilical cord of a newborn child and a pair of scissors open to cut the cord. The storefront of a funeral outfitter has a box on display
with what looks like four dead infants (they are tinged blue and it is not plain whether they are real, but they appear to be). A man
climbs out a window and breaks through a balcony floor. A man quakes and trembles when he hears of the death of his son, and a boy talks
about another boy who died. A bird lies dead on the ground and we hear a man talking about the untimely death of a parent. A boy toils and
struggles to do his chores (he is treated as a slave). A man and woman talk about beating boys and starving them. A man says, "I'd ring
your neck," a woman says, "I'll beat it out of him." A young man dies and a man grieves by his side, a man dies and a woman cries, and
three people grieve at the grave of a man. We see pigs' heads displayed at a street market. A man has a scar on his eyelid causing
it to be permanently shut, and a boy's leg and arm are twisted from malnourishment and maltreatment. Children sleep in dirty
hay-filled boxes. Writing on a schoolroom wall reads, "fear him who formed thy frame." A family is tormented by a man's desire to make
their lives miserable.
PROFANITY 3 - 4 sexual references, 1 mild obscenity, 4 religious exclamations. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Death of a parent, 19th century Britain, strength of character, family, friendship, greed,
charity, financial ruin, financial speculation, dignity, debtors' prison, authority, shame, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, revenge,
alcoholism.
MESSAGE - Blood bonds do not make a family; family is made up of those we love and sacrifice for. The great journey of our
lives is to find our one true love.
(Note: People drink alcohol in several scenes.)
|
