Harmony: The Five Frequencies Saga. Part 1

image for Harmony: The Five Frequencies Saga. Part 1

Short takes

Not suitable under 15; parental guidance to 15 (psychological and physical violence, mature themes)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Harmony: The Five Frequencies Saga. Part 1
  • a review of Harmony: The Five Frequencies Saga. Part 1 completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 11 October 2018.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 15 Not suitable due to physical and psychological violence, scary scenes and mature themes.
Children aged 15 Parental guidance recommended due to physical and psychological violence, scary scenes and mature themes.
Children aged 16 and over Ok for this age group although some younger people in this age group may also find the violence and threat in this film disturbing.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Harmony: The Five Frequencies Saga. Part 1
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Mature themes
Length: 90 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Harmony (Jessica Falkholt) is 21 years old and an orphan. Her mother died in childbirth and Harmony has been raised by a midwife who stole her out of the hospital, believing that the baby had special powers. Harmony does indeed have a special power: she can take away and absorb the fear and pain of other people with a touch of her hand. Living in a dark and gothic warehouse apartment, Harmony roams the streets at night seeking out people she can help. With each person she touches, Harmony becomes weaker and weaker, unable to bear the weight of their fear that she has absorbed. Only when she has the opportunity to be in running water do the fear and pain literally wash out of her body. One day, Harmony has a chance encounter with another orphan, the mysterious millionaire, Mason (Jerome Meyer). They are magnetically drawn to each other, by forces they have yet to discover. Together the pair must discover how they are connected, facing danger along the way.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Supernatural forces; Fear versus Love; Being an orphan; Bullying; Suicide; Threat of violence; Overcoming fear.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a lot of physical and psychological violence in this movie including:

  • A gang of thugs threaten and bully other people, using menacing looks and harsh, threatening language.
  • When Harmony experiences the flashbacks of another person’s fear, she sees violent scenes, such as someone kicking and punching a man in the face or pointing guns at people.
  • A woman goes into an alley and prepares to kill herself, holding a gun to her own head. Harmony intervenes, and the woman does not commit suicide.
  • The gang of thugs break into Harmony’s home twice. The first time she is hiding naked in the bathtub and they trash, destroy and rob her apartment. The second time she is found there, and they tie her to a chair with gaffer tape and threaten her and verbally assault her. The ring leader points a gun at her.
  • When Harmony is captured by the gang and tied to the chair, she starts releasing the fear that is stored in her body and it starts to come out of her fingers as black, blood-like liquid pooling up on the floor. This causes the onlookers to start to go crazy and one of them violently bangs his own head against a metal pole whilst the other convulses on the ground.
  • A man grabs Harmony by the throat and holds her up against the wall as she chokes.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • The opening scene is of a woman having a caesarean section in a hospital and dying in childbirth.
  • The cinematography is designed to be very dark, gothic and tense and many of the scenes are poorly lit.  There are run down and dilapidated buildings and some scary imagery, such as a wall mural of a girl with black tears coming out of her eyes.
  • When Harmony looks up at the night sky there is often a cosmic thunderstorm swirling above her with flashes of lightning.
  • When Harmony washes her body, the water turns black.
  • The scene in which Harmony is tied up and black liquid starts oozing out of her body is like a scene from a horror movie.
  • Mason convulsing in agony in a hospital bed while his mother cries out in agony as she thinks he is dying.
  • The gang leader has a very mean, threatening stare and is a very menacing and scary villain.
  • Mason believes Harmony is dead and must rush to try and save her life, but her body remains limp and lifeless. He is overcome with grief and anguish.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children of this age will also find the above-mentioned scenes scary and disturbing.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children of this age are also likely tfind the above-mentioned scenes scary and disturbing.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Younger children in this age group may also find some of the above-mentioned scenes scary and disturbing.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is an undertone of sexual violence when Harmony is held by the throat by the man in the alley way.
  • Mason and Harmony are romantically drawn to each other, fall in love and kiss each other.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • There are scenes where Harmony is in the bathtub and naked, but these are shot so that you cannot see her private parts.

Use of substances

  • It is implied that the gang of thugs are using substances of some kind, but never shown.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

Harmony: The Five Frequencies Saga, Part 1 is a gothic teen horror /fantasy film which has very dark themes and is more suited to older teens than those under 15 years of age. There is a lot of psychological tension and threats of violence. Parents should be aware that the actor who plays Harmony died in a car accident shortly after filming, and some teenagers may wish to discuss this with their parents.

The main message from this movie is that love can overcome fear.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • helping others, even at your own peril
  • not being afraid of unknown forces
  • looking after yourself in dangerous situations.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • bullying and threatening behaviour
  • suicide and grief.