Holy Days

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Holy Days
• a review of Holy Days completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 11 August 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

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.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

In a small town in New Zealand’s North Island, three elderly nuns, Sister Agnes (Judith Davis), Sister Mary Clare (Jackie Weaver) and Sister Luke (Miriam Margolyes), are threatened with eviction from their convent and being sent into an aged care facility. They know they have deeds to the property and set out on a road journey to the South to find Patricia Ngata (Tanea Heke) who holds the titles. Patricia’s young nephew Brian (Elijah Tamati), who is mourning the death of his mother, persuades the nuns to take him with them to return to his mother’s country.

The road trip down to the South and back involves stealing Father Findlay’s (Jonny Brugh) car and collecting ill-gotten gains along the way to finance the journey. On arrival at Patricia’s, Brian sets out on his own to climb a mountain in a blizzard, in search of his mother, leading to near disaster. Meanwhile, Patricia informs the Sisters that leaving the convent for a period will make their ownership of it null and void. A race is on to get back to the convent in time to save it.

Death and dying; Loss of a parent; Grief; Abandonment; Road trips.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Brian comes home to find his Dad and new partner cleaning out his mother’s things. Brian gets very upset and screams at them. He starts kicking at cartons and says he hates them.
• Brian falls into a river bed and injures his knee.
• Sister Luke falls in the ocean and has to be rescued.
• A man is grabbed by his arms and restrained.
• A main character dies.

Material that may scare or disturb children

• Nothing further noted for this age group.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Brian’s mum got sick, recovered, got sick again and died. He has a snow globe of a mountain where his mother came from and which he treasures.
• Brian is still mourning his mother’s death and, in his prayers, he begs her to take him with her. He sees her in a vision.
• Brian walks up the mountain in freezing conditions. He collapses in the snow and sees a vision of his mother. He says he’s forgetting what she looks like and what she felt like, and asks her why it’s taken so long for her to come for him. She tells him “the dead stay with the dead and the living stay with the living”.
• When the nuns eventually find Brian, covered in snow, he appears to be dead.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Brian is having trouble adjusting to his father’s new partner and writes her a letter saying she’s not his mother and that she’s a ‘nastie witch’ and she can ‘go to hell’.

• Sister Mary Clare talks about how she had been sent out to New Zealand as a child and told that her mother would join her. Her mother never did and she felt abandoned. She mentions that children were stolen from their parents to give them a better life, whereas in reality it was very cruel.
• Sister Agnes bribes a traffic cop to get them to the ferry on time.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Holden cars.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• In a hotel room, a telephone reads on the dial “if you’re looking for a good time call …..”.
• Sister Luke quotes, “Genitals like donkeys. Ezekiel 23:20.”
• Brian tells Sister Agnes she “should be prostituted” for stealing the car (though likely means to say “prosecuted”). To which she replies “it’s a little late for that”.
• A man makes lewd gestures with his tongue to the nuns, who give him the two fingers in response.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• A woman’s buttocks are briefly seen at the back of an open dress.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• The priest and a nun smoke.
• The nuns drink some sherry.
• A priest is often drinking.
• Characters are briefly seen smoking pot in a van.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• In God’s name
• Oh God
• Jesus
• Christ
• Arseholes
• Bastards
• What the hell
• Name calling, including:
  • Stupid
  • Idiots.

In a nutshell

Holy Days is a tragicomedy road trip, set in the beautiful landscape of New Zealand. The movie has some comic moments but also some serious themes about a young boy trying to come to terms with the death of his mother. It is best suited for older children and adults.

The main messages from this movie are to have respect for those who have dedicated their lives to the service of others; and to understand that grief occurs in different ways for each person trying to deal with it.

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

• Loyalty
• Friendship
• Empathy
• Courage
• Forgiveness
• Admitting your mistakes.

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

• The nuns were in a difficult situation but they did steal, bribe and break the law to achieve their objectives. Is it ever ok to do so?