Amsterdam | 2022 | R | – 3.6.5

Why is “Amsterdam” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “brief violence and bloody images.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, a couple of kissing scenes, partial nudity, a woman run over by a car, an imagined shooting of two people, an attempted shooting, many discussions of war, a graphic autopsy scene, scenes showing war wounds on several soldiers, discussions of power and conspiracies, and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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After meeting in Amsterdam during WWI, three friends (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington) vow to always look out for each other. Their paths diverge, but they reconnect in the US in the 1930s when they are accused of murder and together they must navigate secretive corridors of power and wealth to find the real culprits. Also with Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek and Robert De Niro. Directed by David O. Russell. Several lines of dialogue and a couple of songs are in French with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:14]

Amsterdam SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A topless woman is seated on a bed next to a shirtless man lying on his side (we see the woman’s bare back and partial side of her breast and the man’s severely scarred bare back); the man and the woman kiss and she touches his face tenderly (sex is implied).
► A woman kisses a man on the cheek. Two men and a woman lie on the floor together holding each other in a friendly manner. Men and women dance together in a tango parlor and we see a couple of women being dipped. Men and women drink and dance together in a few scenes. A man and a woman sit on a bed together and she touches his face tenderly.
► A woman talks about admiring a man and another woman says that she has a crush on him. We hear that a woman won’t allow her husband to live in their apartment and that her family disapproves of him. A woman says that another woman is “inappropriately excited” about meeting a man.
► Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage, bare backs and shoulders in several scenes. A man’s bare abdomen is seen with the straps of a back brace covering a few areas. A dead man’s bare chest and legs are seen during an autopsy (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).

Amsterdam VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – Several scenes show men suffering from war wounds, with a lot of blood shown, as a woman removes shrapnel and we see resulting wounds including a man missing an eye and with scars across his eyelid and on his face. A doctor is shown repairing severe facial wounds on men from injuries in war; we see some X-rays of holes in faces. A collection of pieces of shrapnel is seen with bloody bits and pieces in a box; the pieces are later incorporated into decorative works. A dead man is shown in a wooden box and we see that his flesh is discolored and his eyes remain open. A wife lifts her husband’s shirt to reveal multiple scars across his entire back and she says that he is hideous and grotesque. A woman says that two men attacked her and broke her arm; we see a bruise and a swollen arm and a man twists it to reset the bone (the woman whimpers and we hear a crack).
► A woman is very nervous when she meets two men and explains why she’s afraid; she is pushed hard by a man in a crowd and falls in the street in front of a car that runs over her (we see her body being run over, without any blood evident, and this part of the scene is repeated later); another man tries to help her and the driver of the car opens the door and hits him in the head knocking out his glass eye and he and another man run away as they are shot at by someone in the crowd. A woman imagines shooting a man and a woman through the face (we see blood spurt and they both yell); the woman holds a gun but does not shoot it.
► A man and a woman go to what turns out to be a clinic where people undergo forced sterilizations; the man fights with two people, as the woman shoots a gun that hits a glass jar and pours out its contents. A man holds a gun in the rafters of a theater and aims at a man onstage; two people grab the gunman, struggle over the gun, it discharges three times, and the man is pushed and falls onto the stage where he picks up the gun and wrestles with another man. Armed men in a car stop in front of two men and one man imagines that they are going to shoot him.
► A man punches another man hard in the face and his glass eye pops out on the floor; another man punches the attacker and knocks him out. A wife slaps her husband hard on the face (we see reddened skin). A man throws a drink in another man’s face in a restaurant and calls him names. A woman trips, loses her balance and collapses in several scenes.
► We hear that a man is thrown out of his medical practice for treating war veterans and that he is developing experimental medications to treat pain and nerve damage; the man tests the drugs on himself and we see him collapse from the effects of the drugs in a few scenes. A man wears a back brace to ease pain from war wounds.
► A woman says that she had to stab someone and that she hit a woman in the head with a brick. A man says that his grandfather shot someone in the face and someone else shot his grandfather in the face. A man talks about Black soldiers fighting in a war “being a crime against the flag.” A man quizzes another man and asks if he believes in the Constitution and if he wants to see a dictator in power. A man says, “I left my eye in France.” A man complains about there being a “dead white man in a box,” and feeling certain that he will be blamed for it. A man says another man followed the wrong God home from war. A man is told to go to war to earn medals in order to fit in high society. A woman says that she is good at forging documents. A man talks about wanting to know about troop movements and other military intelligence. A police officer is threatening to a Black man and says, “I don’t even like that he is a lawyer.” Two men make several demeaning remarks about another man having flat feet and not fighting in a war. A woman says that she was diagnosed with epilepsy and given medication for seizures. A man says that a woman suffers from a hereditary nervous disorder. Two women argue in several scenes. Two women and a man argue in several scenes. A man describes another man as having a “Hebrew sense of humor.” A swastika is carved in a large hedge. We hear that a man and a woman were no longer safe in the United States and left for another country.
► A man is shown treating patients in an alley. People in a hospital yell at a man and throw things at him. Two women argue and one takes the other’s hat and tells her to leave. A man injects another man for pain and we see a scar on his abdomen. A man and a woman conduct an autopsy and we see a man’s chest and abdomen fully open with organs out and his stomach open with fluid drained into a container. A man is shown dead on a bed with discolored skin and his mouth and eyes open. A woman blows her nose and complains of allergies. A man opens a case filled with glass eyes of different colors.
► A man hands a walrus skin briefcase to another man (he says that the animal died of old age). A man talks about a parasitic bird stealing other birds’ nests.

Amsterdam LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 5 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 18 mild obscenities, name-calling (disappointing, knucklehead, disgraceful, hideous, one-eyed nut, cheat, rotten bastard, grotesque, terrifying, insanity, reckless, fool, old kook, cripple, weak, disgrace, treachery, crackers, invalid, coward, jerks, tramps, selfish, meaningless, kooky, demented, horrible, ridiculous, brilliant, nuts, crazy, spies, half-Jew, martyr, anarchist), exclamations (how dare you, hazaa, keep your mouth shut, enough), 18 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, oh God, thank God, God be with you, from your mouth to God’s ears, for God’s sake, Holy [scatological term deleted], followed the wrong God home). | profanity glossary |

Amsterdam SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man tests self-made drugs on himself in a few scenes, a man injects himself and others with a pain medication and he says that he was carried away with using it, we hear that a woman has been medicated for concocted health issues, and people put drops in their eyes for pain and anxiety. A man drinks from a bottle of liquor, a woman drinks liquor and shares with two men, men and women drink at a gala and several other gatherings, and a man and a woman drink glasses of wine at a gala. A woman smokes a pipe.

Amsterdam DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – War, war veterans, friendship, experimental medicine, conspiracies, respect, destructive behavior, weakness, privilege, adventure, conspiracies, bribery, big business, vulnerability, fascism, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, trust, power mongers, influence, courage, dignity, cruelty, greed, vast wealth, murder, love, choice vs. need, fitting in, racism, Jim Crow, anti-Semitism, optimism.

Amsterdam MESSAGE

 – Time is short; live and be free. We must fight to protect kindness.