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Parents' Guide to

Hearts and Bones

By Kat Halstead, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Tense and upsetting drama has violence and adult themes.

Movie NR 2021 111 minutes
Hearts and Bones Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 14+

Based on 1 parent review

age 14+

We need to help our global neighbors. Our brothers and sisters.

A conversation that parents need to have with teens, especially with the current demonization of immigrants that is pushed by the American media and online personalities. There are places in the world where life is so painful, so impossible, that a safe haven and helping hand should be extended. People are complicated, people change, and sometimes we help the wrong people for the right reasons. I can't say if Mr Ahmed is a good person who was forced to do bad things. Helping, though, is always the right thing to do. Immigrants are what made western countries so strong - pay it forward now.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
1 person found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

The movie does well to portray the problematic role of a war photographer in recording atrocities and the moral and emotional struggles inherent in the job. Weaving is fittingly grizzled and broken, but clings to his work to avoid questioning his own problems. Luri is powerful in his debut role, expressing the hope and aspiration of life in a new country, alongside the reality of working two jobs and trying to move on from the horrors he has witnessed in Sudan. The emotional connection is strong thanks to grounded performances all round -- including Hayley McElhinney as Dan's concerned but quick to judge partner, and Sebastian's own wife Aniska (Bolude Watson) as her husband's empathetic but exhausted reality check.

The short war scenes are impactful, and the way in which the fear stays with the characters -- such as Sebastian's unease around a war relief organization, even once he's living in Australia -- is subtly but powerfully portrayed. Real-life images of the plight of refugees are shown at the end of the movie, as a further reminder that these stories mostly go unseen without documentation, but also that they continue to go on and have a lasting effect on people all over the world.

Movie Details

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