What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this action drama is set during World War I, so the combat on the ground is awkward and somewhat brutal (though only briefly seen), while the newfangled "flying machine" combat is romanticized. Battles tend to include slow motion sequences and grand music, characters are shot in their cockpits and slump over, bleeding, and a couple of planes crash. One character is shot down by airplanes after he has crash-landed. Another suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, drinking too much and behaving erratically, worrying his fellow flyers. A central character is shot (not fatally) while escaping the Germans. A brief scene following a pilot's crash shows him in a French bordello, where the prostitutes appear in their underwear and he undresses to his own underwear in order to have his injury dressed (he's embarrassed by this). Characters drink liquor, smoke cigarettes and cigars, and use occasional mild profanity.
- Families can talk about the history of World War I, which introduced planes as weapons and vehicles of warfare. How do the American flyers help the French cause before the United States enters the war? Why did the United States finally decide to get involved in the war? How has warfare changed since WWI? What is the movie's ultimate message about war?