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Jindabyne

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 14, age appropriate for kids over 99; suggested age 15.
  • Is it any good?

    3.0
  • Common Sense says

    Intense relationship drama for adults only.

updated 07.04.08

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 15–18

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Disturbing moments include a child nearly causing a playmate to drown; physical abuse between spouses (a man and woman attack each other verbally and with their arms and fists in a discomfortingly realistic fight); crimes such as tampering with evidence; racial conflict.
  • Violence :

    Lots of it, and in all forms -- from verbal abuse to outright murder. A serial killer hunts down women and unceremoniously dumps a partially naked body into a lake. Also, children kill a pet, intending to use it for sacrifice. A man punches his pal on the nose and breaks it. One of the children keeps a dead bird that she presumably also killed.
  • Sex :

    A husband and wife have sex (though there's no nudity). Some talk of sex. A partially naked corpse.
  • Language:

    Occasional use of everything from "damn" to "holy s--t" to "f--k."
  • Consumerism:

    Some product placement in the gas station, but nothing easily identifiable.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Lots of alcohol. The four men guzzle beer on their fishing trip and at a party beforehand. Some shots of characters smoking.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Jindabyne

Parents need to know that this short story-based film is a bleak study of human cruelty in the form of emotional sabotage and actual murder. There are many violent episodes -- from the opening sequence in which a serial killer stalks his prey to a scene in which two children kill a pet to an emotionally jarring exchange in which a husband and wife fight each other with words and fists. Racism also rears its nasty head, and there are disturbing close-ups of a murdered woman. Characters drink, smoke, and swear.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about how the media can vilify or anoint someone because of their choices. In some cases -- like the one presented in this movie, in which four men ignore a dead body until their vacation is done -- is it justified? If so, why? Does the film explain why the men decide to do what they did? Does it make sense? Is the reaction they get from their families understandable or outrageous? How do such moments bring some people closer and tear others apart?
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