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This Week’s Movie Ratings
By Ali Asadullah 09/10/2001
Please consult the following ratings system for the evaluation of films currently in theaters. Please note that films with themes specifically adult in nature will be rated as
(Adult) in addition to being given an overall rating.
(CU) Completely Unacceptable
- Film contains levels of Sex, Violence, Profane Language and/or other objectionable content that are gratuitous to the degree that the film has absolutely no redeeming value either as a social commentary or as an entertaining diversion.
Examples: Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Eyes Wide Shut, Eddie Murphy: Raw
(RU) Rather Unacceptable
- Film contains levels of Sex, Violence, Profane Language and/or other objectionable content that are extreme. As such only through extreme rationalization could someone consider the film fit for consumption. The only reason to see it would be as a study of the current state of Western culture.
Examples: American Beauty
(SA) Somewhat Acceptable
- Aspects of objectionable Sex, Violence and Profane Language and/or other questionable content exist, but either a) Not in a gratuitous manner, b) Not in great frequency or c) With specific redeeming intent. But be very careful.
Examples: Malcolm X, American History X, The Matrix
(RA) Rather Acceptable
- Overall, the film is suitable for general consumption with some concerns over thematic issues or minor objectionable content. But be on the lookout for more subtle Western themes that are of concern to Muslims such as romance and dating.
Examples: Shrek, Atlantis
(CA) Completely Acceptable
- Film content is either tame or fully socially redeeming in nature.
Examples: Jinnah, The Battle of Algiers, Bambi
Training Day
(RU-Adult)
Summary: Earlier this year, PBS's Frontline series broadcast an episode that focused on the wide-ranging corruption that currently grips the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). From perjury to gang affiliation, officers of what was once the most highly touted police force in the nation were shown to be involved in as much criminal activities as those criminals they were supposed to be pursuing.
Training Day is a dramatic representation of what can happen when a police officer goes bad. Narcotics detective Alonzo Harris has 13-years on the police force, and during that time he has learned the hard way, that one can easily be killed by trying to be squeaky-clean. And in executing his job, Harris has taken to walking a very fine line between legal police procedure and heavy-handed draconian tactics. The film's story centers on the relationship between Harris and a young rookie, Jake Hoyt, played by Ethan Hawke, who has one "training day" to impress Harris and prove that he has what it takes to work the narcotics beat. What Hoyt finds is a truly disturbing world of crime, punishments, extreme violence and questionable moral and ethical behavior on the part of the organization he is sworn to serve. While
Training Day provides an important commentary on the current state of affairs in America's police and justice systems, it would behoove Muslims to be wary of the film's gratuitous violence, pervasive use of foul and offensive language, tackling of mature themes, and use of brief nudity.
Joy Ride
(RU-Adult)
Summary: Ah, the college road trip. It's one of those summer diversions many university students do at least once, packing into cars and trekking across country either to or from school. For one college freshman however, this leisurely institution will never seem quite so pleasant again; for while making the pilgrimage home after his first year of school with his sister and brother, he encounters a deranged truck-driver who wreaks terror on the party for the better part of the trip. As delectable as this suspense/terror-fest may sound,
Joy Ride is not really a movie for Muslims. The horror can be classified as mindless and is meant simply to scare. The language is often foul and the romantic themes are inappropriate as well. Muslims might best avoid this one.
Serendipity
(RU-Adult)
Summary: This film plays on the cliche that "some things are just meant to be", and forcing things only leads to heartbreak and disappointment. When a young man serendipitously runs into a beautiful young woman one day, he is enchanted. The two hit it off quite well and the young woman decides to offer him her phone number, which by chance of fate is blown away by a gust of wind just as she hands it over. Instead of rewriting it though, she chooses to follow the fate that has befallen the two, much to the young man's disappointment, and leaves just as suddenly as she appeared. For the rest of the film, the man searchers high and low to find her again, to prove that their fate was not to apart, but to be together.
Serendipity is a romantic comedy of sorts, and as is a film Muslims will probably want to avoid because of the focus on the male-female relationship.
Max Keeble's Big Move (RA)
Summary: This is a film kids will want to see. It centers upon the plight of young Max Keeble, a seventh grader who is incessantly picked on and bullied at his neighborhood grade school. But his life is about to change, as he learns from his parents that the family is preparing to move. With this fait accompli on the horizon, Keeble goes about the business of coming out of his shell at school, standing up to the bullies that once vexed him, gaining a new sense of self-esteem in the process. Although marketed as a kid's film, Max Keeble's Big Move may be more appropriate for audiences in their early teens. Parents should be careful though. This film portrays typical American pre-adolescent life, not typical Muslim pre-adolescent life. So there may be subtle themes and portrayals that parents would wish their children not be exposed to.
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