| nudity |
Early on, a prisoner is sexually assaulted by a soldier (not shown but discussed). The perpetrator's punishment marks a significant part of the film's plot, and differing cultural attitudes on homosexuality and sodomy are touched on. At one point the perpetrator is humiliated with threats of public exposure or being forced to repeat the act before his peers, though this does not take place
Men are shown shirtless or stripping to the waist throughout the film (not sexual).
At one point, Celliers begins to remove his shirt to show injuries received from a beating; another character takes notice and his interest in Celliers can be seen as romantic.
A suggestion is made that a man and a woman might have had a romantic relationship, one character making a mild sexual reference. |
| violence |
Many different men, including the main characters, are seen brutally hit and kicked, beaten with sticks and other objects, and tortured, some of these scenes have bloody results.
2 dead bodies are seen in the movie and only one is disturbing but both are seen very briefly.
A man with multiple bloody scars is seen, he is stabbed when he struggles. He grabs a machete and stabs himself in the same spot trying to commit a seppuku (seppuku is explained in 2 more lines). The scene is very intense, the wound is small but very bloody.
We witness a seppuku ritual, which is a Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment; this is a form of capital punishment for samurai who committed serious offenses. We see the man grab a knife and stab himself, he starts cutting him stomach open but falls over so we cant see the blood, a guard behind him swings a sword at his back multiple times to make him get up (we don't see the wound but we see the blood soaking his white shirt), however the guilty man does not get up so another guard comes over and cuts his head off (we don't see him cut the guilty man's head off but we do see the guilty man's body spasm a little as he slowly dies). Later we see an overview on all the people surrounding the body and you can clearly see the guilty man's head is missing from his body but his decapitated head cannot be seen. The scene isn't too graphic; the most graphic part to this is when he is hit on his back with the sword.
One of the soldiers who was watching the seppuku ritual faints or has a seizure and bites his own tongue (a bit of blood is seen coming out of his mouth).
A man talks about committing seppuku and takes out his knife and put the handle in the ground and lies on the blade (you do not see the blade go in nor blood resulting).
A bunch of kids gang up on one boy, punching him and struggling with him. The beaten-up kid is seen with a bloody nose and lip.
|
| profanity |
F*ck - 1
Bullsh*t - 1
Bastard: 2
"Queer"/other derogatory terms for homosexual appears several times. |
| alcohol |
A bunch of characters are seen smoking cigars/cigarettes.
A character appears to be quite drunk in one scene, though he is more benevolent and good-humored than before. |
| frightening |
Overall, the movie could pull as a PG-13 in today's standard but the movie has some very realistic war themes that teens could handle, I really wouldn't recommend watching it with your young children (plus I don't think they would follow the plot too well as there is a lot of dialog and barely any action). The older teens would appreciate this wonderful movie more.
The seppuku scenes and frequent beatings, while by no means graphic, are intense.
A scene where sick and dying soldiers, many too sick or wounded to walk, are forced to assemble with the rest of the prisoners (in violation of the Geneva Convention, constituting a war crime) might be upsetting to some viewers.
There are scenes in flashback where a small boy is bullied about his deformed back and subjected to a school hazing. |
