What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that even though this documentary includes animation and director/star Morgan Spurlock's trademark humor, it's not aimed at younger children. It deals with difficult themes -- terrorism, morality, birth, and death -- in ways that are both entertaining and sophisticated. Violence is a theme throughout the movie, coming up in conversations about terrorist attacks, suicide bombers, and U.S. aggression. Actual violent images are infrequent; conservative men in Israel who resent the film crew's intrusion act aggressively, and there are shots of tanks and armed men in Gaza. There's brief imagery of Spurlock's wife giving birth in a tub; language includes a couple of "f--k"s and other profanity.
- Families can talk about the movie's primary message -- that learning about other cultures and traditions leads to understanding and loss of fear. Do you agree? How does the movie use comedy to address serious ideas like violence, terrorism, poverty, and global politics? Is that approach successful?