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.
Greta Scacchi, is an Australian photojournalist wanting to
break the story of the Vietnamese boat people seeking refuge in Malaysia.
SEX/NUDITY 4 - The only real nudity is a woman's bare derriere. A scene
where a woman uses her body to cool her husband's anger-playing the baby, the "bad
girl," to the papa who is always protecting her; she is clad in a negligee and he
puts his hand to her breast.
VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - The movie opens with rioting in the streets. Later, during
a Hindu festival, a long needle is poked through a youngster's lip. When the Vietnamese
boat people try to swim to shore, the Malaysian villagers charge them with swords and
butcher knives-slicing open their sides, chopping off heads, etc. Eventually only dead
bodies are left floating in pools of blood.
the review continues below...
PROFANITY 5 - The F-word is used once-and that's about it. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - The movie raises questions of extra-marital sex, submissive
sex, the black market, oppression and violence.
MESSAGE - Of course, the main message is the victimization of refugees,
which can also be applied to the treatment of minority groups in general.
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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