The Mother | 2023 | R | – 3.7.5

Why is “The Mother” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence, some language and brief drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes caressing while dancing, discussions of relationships and paternity, many scenes of gunfire exchanged with people being struck and killed and blood spraying, several scenes with explosions, a few fight scenes with knives brandished and stabbing wounds and deaths, threats of violence, evidence of human trafficking and weapons trading, many arguments, and at least 7 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

---

When a former soldier and sharpshooter (Jennifer Lopez) becomes an informant for the FBI against a gun trafficking cartel, she decides to hide her newborn daughter by giving her up for adoption. However, her former criminal associates have vowed revenge, and find their opportunity 12 years later when they abduct her daughter (Lucy Paez), forcing the mother to come out of hiding and utilize her special skills to protect and destroy. Also with Omari Hardwick, Joseph Fiennes, Gael García Bernal, Paul Raci, Jesse Garcia, Yvonne Senat Jones and Edie Falco. Directed by Niki Caro. [Running Time: 1:55]

The Mother SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A woman wears a deeply cut dress that reveals her bare back to the hips and she and a man dance and embrace; the man touches her clothed buttocks. A shirtless man puts a woman’s hand on his chest as they talk about her saving his life.
► A man asks a woman about her having been in a relationship with two men (presumably at the same time). A pre-teen girl asks a woman if she loved a man.
► A woman changes clothes in the backseat of a car and we see her wearing a sports bra that reveals her bare abdomen and cleavage. A nude newborn is shown after delivery (no details are seen). Women wear off the shoulder and cropped tops that reveal cleavage, bare shoulders and abdomens. A man is shown shirtless with many tattoos on his chest, back and arms (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back). A woman wears a tank top in several scenes that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders.

The Mother VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A woman hides from a gunman and shoots him in the hand when he tries to shoot her (blood splatters on the wall), the man stabs the woman in the abdomen and we see that she is pregnant (she collapses to the floor with a bloody abdominal wound); the woman had prepared an explosive device that blows up and the man is engulfed in flames. Bullets are fired from outside a house and several people are struck with blood spurting: we see two men dead in a car outside with blood splattered on the windshield, a man in the house moves up a flight of stairs and is shot through a window (we see his bloody abdominal wound), a woman takes the man’s gun and shoots another gunman as they approach, and she closes the man’s wound with glue (we see blood bubble out of the open wound).
► A woman arms herself when she hears that people are coming after her; we see several vehicles with armed people and later they ride on snowmobiles to find the woman; mines are planted in a forest and a snowmobile explodes when it hits one, a snowmobile is rigged with an explosive and it crashes into a cabin causing an explosion (we see the explosion), a woman stabs a man in the neck (we see blood spurt), and a pre-teen girl stabs a man in the arm and he picks her up and takes her away on a snowmobile; a woman chases and shoots at the man, the pre-teen girl jumps off the vehicle and the man is struck. A woman shoots a man driving a truck and we see blood splattered on the windshield, as well as blood and matter dribbling from his head.
► A woman confronts a man and he holds a gun on her, she drops her weapon, they talk, he threatens to kill her and she head-butts the man, throws a lit candle on a bed where a bottle of alcohol has spilled, stabs him in the abdomen and pulls the knife up (we see the bloody cut); she then lies him back on the floor and we see blood on his nose as the room is engulfed in flames and ammunition explodes. A woman and a man fight with punches and kicks, the woman slashes the man on the arm and face using a knife (we see blood), the man holds the woman in a chokehold and they are shot from off-screen (they tumble down a hill, the woman strikes a boulder and lies unconscious with blood on her head and face and her arm is twisted behind her unnaturally); she revives and slams her shoulder against a boulder to put it back in place (she yells in pain).
► A woman with a rifle watches a pre-teen girl from a distance at a children’s party in a park: two vans with armed men squeal to a stop in the nearby road and the woman shoots several of the men (blood spurts) causing people in the park to scream and run; one woman at the party is shot in the arm and a pre-teen girl is taken away in one of the vans. A man with a gun searches for a woman in a parking garage and shoots a bystander and parked cars causing their alarms to blare; the woman hides in a pickup truck, starts it and slams into the man pinning him between the truck and another car (presumably killing him), and then speeds away. A woman pushes a man against a wall and holds a gun under his chin, another man enters the room and he is stabbed in the back by another man; the two men fight and one man is stabbed in the abdomen and left for dead; the first man runs away and the woman chases him through alleys and streets, she steals a motorcycle and continues chasing, she crashes into a car and is thrown over the hood, she steals the car after hitting the driver in the face with a helmet and crashes into the man throwing him in the air and he moans on the ground (we see a scrape on his face). A woman with barbed wire wrapped around her hand punches a man repeatedly in the face (he is tied into a chair) to get information (we see blood on his face and mouth), and she waterboards him using a carbonated beverage; he makes a threatening remark about a pre-teen girl and the woman kicks him, tipping him over and he lands on a broken bottle that stabs him through the throat killing him. A man driving a car on an isolated road is T-boned by another car and we see him with head and face wounds and a pre-teen girl in the back seat has a bloody nose; the man is taken out of the car by men with guns, he is held on his knees on the ground and shot in the head (we see him fall and he is left on the road) as the pre-teen girl watches in terror; a woman sets a puddle of gas on fire that causes an explosion and speeds away with the girl on a motorcycle. A woman shoots several guards outside a compound and we see blood spurt as they fall dead; she enters a building and shoots other guards as she makes her way through hallways, the power is cut and she retrieves a pre-teen girl from a room and leads her outside to a man waiting for her.
► A woman hits a cigarette out of a pre-teen girl’s hand and yells at her, they argue, the girl holds a gun on the woman, and the woman takes it away from her and unloads it. A woman in a hospital undergoes surgery to deliver her baby after being stabbed in the abdomen and we see the child as it cries and later in an incubator. A woman is shown in an exam room during a sonogram and we see an image of a fetus with a beating heart. A woman cleans a stab wound on a man’s back (we see blood). A man is shown with burn scars on his face.
► A woman shoots a deer and a pre-teen girl screams and falls to her knees. A pre-teen girl plays with wolf pups and one bites her hand (we see blood and we hear that she got eight stitches). A wolf stands over a dead deer; the wolf has blood on its mouth and fur and the deer is bloody from a gunshot wound; a woman aims a gun at the wolf until she sees that the wolf has pups. A pre-teen girl plays with wolf pups and the mother wolf comes up behind a woman and growls; the woman tells the girl to run, the wolf chases the girl and the woman shoots the wolf with salt pellets and it runs away.
► A man says that he wants to kill a woman, “close.” A woman describes salmon as “laying their eggs to die.” A pre-teen girl refuses to eat food that a woman has killed and the woman explains that there’s no food that we eat that hasn’t come from violence. A woman asks a man if he is a headhunter. A woman describes a man “siphoning guns.” A man tells a woman, “You sold your soul to the devil.”
► A woman opens a storage container and finds many children inside (human trafficking is implied); she leans out of the container and vomits on the ground (we see goo). An adult wolf is shown wounded (we see blood on its fur) and its pups howl nearby.
► A woman teaches a pre-teen girl survival skills including how to drive, how to shoot and how to kill with a knife. We understand that a woman is in witness protection. We hear that a woman served in the military on tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Mother LANGUAGE 5

 – About 7 F-words, 2 sexual references, 4 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (ruthless), exclamations (shut-up, goodness me, oh my gosh), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. you found God or something, pray God). | profanity glossary |

The Mother SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man snorts cocaine in a bar. People drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes in a bar scene, and people drink at a party. A woman smokes a cigar, a man smokes a cigar at a party, a woman smokes a cigarette, and a pre-teen girl tries to light a cigarette but it is knocked out of her hand.

The Mother DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Arms dealers, human trafficking, FBI operations, witness protection, kidnapping, motherhood, maternal instincts, military service, PTSD, betrayal.

The Mother MESSAGE

 – A mother will go to any lengths to protect her child.