Not suitable under 13; parental guidance to 14 (themes, disturbing scenes, coarse language)
This topic contains:
Children under 13 | Lacks interest and not suitable due to themes, disturbing scenes and coarse language. |
Children aged 13–14 | Parental guidance recommended due to themes and coarse language. |
Children aged 15 and over | Ok for this age group. |
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: | Is Anybody There? |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature themes and infrequent coarse language |
Length: | 95 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Edward (Bill Milner) is a 10 year old boy who lives with his mother (Anne-Marie Duff) and father (David Morrissey) in the ramshackle nursing home that they run. He is obsessed with the afterlife and desperately wants to know what happens after you die. He has taken to placing tape recorders in the rooms of the residents and spends hours listening to and analysing their last breaths. He tries many varied ways to contact the dead, but all to no avail.
When Clarence (Michael Caine) arrives at the home, after a long life on the road as a magician, he insists that it is just for a little while and that he doesn’t need to be cared for. Indeed, compared to the other patients, who shake constantly, live in alternate realities or can barely speak, Clarence appears to be the last person who needs to be in such a place. But looks can be deceiving. After Clarence attempts to commit suicide, Edward and Clarence strike up an unlikely friendship. Both are unhappy with their lives and are largely misunderstood. But they learn to understand each other. Edward gives Clarence hope about the afterlife and Clarence helps Edward learn to live life in the present as opposed to focussing only on life after death.
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.
Death; Suicide; Family breakdown.
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 some violence in this movie including:
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:
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 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 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.
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
The main message from this movie is that life, no matter how long you live, is short and that you should make the most of living it to the fullest.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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