What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this is a disturbing dystopian film that addresses the near eradication of human civilization by a virus. Characters drink, smoke, get in fights, evade the police, and kill one another. There are also upsetting scenes of mental institutions and jails as well as a graphic scene depicting WWI trenches. James Cole is repeatedly sedated, and images of him drooling and nearly catatonic are featured at several points. The movie raises lots of complex moral questions.
- Families can talk about the boundaries between the sane and insane. Why is James Cole viewed as "sane" by some characters and "insane" by others? Similar questions could be asked about other characters, including Kathryn Railly and Jeffrey Goines. The film also deals extensively with issues of surveillance. Who is being watched in the film and why? Who is monitoring characters? How does this monitoring impact the characters and their actions?