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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio | 2005 | PG-13 | - 2.4.5

Julianne Moore stars as a devoted housewife and mother of 10, who supports her family by entering and winning commercial jingle contests in the 1950s. Her husband, played by Woody Harrelson, is troubled by the idea that she is the bread winner in the family, turns to drink, and squanders much of what she was able to accumulate. Based on a true story. Also with Laura Dern, Ellary Porterfield and Frank Chiesurin. Directed by Jane Anderson. [1:39]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A married couple kiss on the cheek, forehead and neck and a man and a woman dance together.
 A married man helps his wife out of her girdle (her hands are wounded); he is seated and she is standing and he rests his head on her chest (cleavage and bare shoulders are visible). A man and his wife snuggle in bed together (they're in pajamas).
 An infant's genitals are visible while he has his diaper changed, a woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage, and a man zips up his pants as he is coming out of the bathroom (nothing is visible).

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A man yells at his wife, he grabs her arm as she passes carrying bottles of milk, she trips, she falls on the floor, the bottles shatter, and her arms are badly cut by the glass (blood mixes with the milk on the floor and her arms are covered with blood).
 We see a man in a wrecked car after an accident and we see a shard of glass sticking out of his throat, with blood around it.
 A man grabs his wife by the arm, his children jump on him and hit him, the woman throws a bowl of Jell-O on him and he sits down on the floor.
 A man yells violently at a radio (he's listening to baseball games) in several scenes: during one such scene the man yells at a neighbor who tells him to be quiet, then he pounds on the lid of a chest freezer with a pan denting it, then he kicks a table and yells, and his children are frightened and led out of the room by their mother. Another scene shows the man finishing a pint of alcohol; he becomes increasingly agitated, and throws food out of a freezer and into the backyard.
 We see a body in a body bag being taken away in a hearse.
 We hear that a man has been drinking and that he locked his children out of the house, and we hear that a young man stole money from a woman's purse while his mother bails him out of jail.
 A man yells at his daughter while teaching her how to drive, and a man yells at his wife.
 A young man has a cast on his arm (we do not see what caused the injury). We see an infant with a dirty bottom while his diaper is being changed.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 2 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid, moron), 6 religious profanities, 12 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man is shown drinking alcohol and beer in many scenes, to the point of drunkenness, and he usually becomes angry and belligerent.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Commercial jingles, contests, debt, responsibility, alcoholism, spousal abuse, patriarchy, judgment, regrets, death of a spouse, death of a parent, eviction, roles of men and women, ego, obedience, dreams, stealing, loss of a dream, jealousy, manhood, adventures, forgiveness, health problems, hope.

MESSAGE - If you want something in life, you've got to pay for it. We cannot embrace the joy of life without forgiving first.

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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We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.

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