Parents' Guide to The Quilters

Movie NR 2024 33 minutes
The Quilters movie poster: the head and shoulders of a man with grey hair looks at a colorful quilt

Common Sense Media Review

Andrea Beach By Andrea Beach , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 13+

Touching short docu about restorative justice; language.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Any Positive Content?

  • The Quilters Trailer
  • The Quilters: Chill, a man of color with long locks and grizzled beard, bends over a sewing machine preparing to seam some fabric.
  • The Quilters: A White man with a shaved head and greying beard concentrates while using a sewing machine.
  • The Quilters: A White man with glasses and a long grey beard lays out strips of fabric preparing to piece a quilt together.

Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 1 parent review

 

 

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What's the Story?

THE QUILTERS are men incarcerated in a maximum security prison in Missouri who are part of a restorative justice program. Inmates with spotless records are allowed to spend most of their days designing and making quilts for children in foster care and other charitable causes. Through the eyes of the men in the program we see why it's important to them and to the kids who receive the quilts, and how it affects their lives, hearts, and minds while in prison.

Is It Any Good?

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

This is a moving documentary about the tremendous power of doing something good for someone else. The Quilters take a huge amount of pride in their work and put a lot of time and effort into personalizing and perfecting each quilt for each child. As such, it offers a lot of food for thought about justice, guilt, regret, remorse, being part of a community, helping others, and more.

Little else of life in this prison is shown, so it's a very positive look at a program that does a lot of good for a lot of people. The tone is very gentle and low key, which may not hold the attention of some kids, but there's little content of concern and a lot to think about.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about The Quilters as role models. Can someone who committed a terrible crime still be a positive role model? Can people change?

  • How does teamwork help with the quilting itself, and what kind of impact does it have on the members of the program?

  • Many quilters show a lot of compassion for the kids who will receive their quilts. What is compassion, and how does it help us be better people and better members of our community?

Movie Details

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The Quilters movie poster: the head and shoulders of a man with grey hair looks at a colorful quilt

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