Fatima | 2020 | PG-13 | – 1.5.1

Why is “Fatima” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some strong violence and disturbing images.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes paintings depicting nudity of children and demons, several war scenes with bloody wounds and dead bodies shown, many arguments with a couple ending in slapping and shoving, and some name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on historical events about three children in Fátima, Portugal, that reported visions of the Virgin Mary in 1917. They both inspired believers and angered officials of the Church and the local government; Fátima continues to be a popular Catholic pilgrimage destination. With Lúcia Moniz, Sônia Braga, Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic, Stephanie Gil, Alejandra Howard, Jorge Lamelas, Harvey Keitel, Joana Ribeiro and Elmano Sancho. Directed by Marco Pontecorvo. [Running Time: 1:53]

Fatima SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A husband and his wife undress (we see the woman wearing a corset and an undergarment that reveals cleavage and the man is bare-chested briefly) and climb into bed together where he kisses her hand.
► A painting shows the devil and people nude with bare chests, abdomens and buttocks visible. We see nude cherubs in a painting (bare chests, abdomens, buttocks and legs are shown).

Fatima VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A few armed men shoot other men at pointblank range and we see some blood spurt as they fall to the ground. A few scenes show images from a battlefield during war and men are shown being thrown from explosions and lying motionless on the ground as we hear gunfire and we see a wounded man being carried on a stretcher; a young girl sees a relative being thrown to the ground after an explosion and she fears for him. We see many bodies on the ground after explosions and bloody wounds are visible; one body is missing limbs.
► A girl sees what she is told is hell, with winged demons flying around a red landscape and with flames bursting around them; people float through columns of flames. A girl sees a huge explosion and a mushroom cloud as she is warned of future wars. A few scenes show wounded soldiers with bloody wounds and bandages. Bloody wounds appear on a woman’s chest and blood drips down her skirt. A young girl sees a funeral where people carry two coffins through a town and she understands that the funeral is for her two friends. A woman is shown seated in a wheelchair where a large crowd is gathered. We hear that two children died of influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic.
► A girl kneels and crawls around an altar praying for her mother who has become ill. Many people gather in a field as three children speak to a woman that no one else can see; police prepare to clear the people away and a man watches the people through binoculars. A girl ties a rough rope around her bare abdomen and pulls it tight to punish herself as she calls for a vision to return to her. A girl has a nightmare where she hears a woman’s voice calling to her as she enters a church and when she approaches a statue of a woman, a snake at the feet of the statue lunges at her and the girl wakes with a start. We see a large painting depicting the devil in hell and people on the ground under his foot and shown to be suffering with flames all around. A girl has a dream that her brother returns from war and that he asks her to help him as he says, “I don’t want to go back to the front. I don’t want to die.”
► Three children are held in the office of a man with armed guards standing around them; the children are scolded by the man and told that they should confess to lying. A girl is locked in a room and we understand that a psychiatrist evaluates her to see if they can send her to a psychiatric hospital; the doctor declares her stable. A man paces in front of three children and tells them that they should confess to lying about seeing a vision and we understand that he has been questioning them for a long time. A man tries to push past guards outside a building where his child is being questioned by a man; another man pulls him away. A woman slaps her young daughter in the face and continues to hit her until the child climbs out of the cart they are riding in; the woman blames the child for her son not returning from war and the child runs away. A woman yells at a young girl in the street and tells her that it is her fault that the woman’s son died; the child’s mother reprimands the woman and walks away angrily. A woman becomes enraged when her daughter insists that she is speaking to a woman (referred to as the Holy Mother). A woman reprimands her young daughter for dancing and says that they must sacrifice themselves in order for a loved one to come home safely from war. A woman yells at her young daughter and tells her, “Stop disrespecting your mother” as she squeezes her face. A woman grabs a young girl’s arm and tells her to confess to lying about having seen a vision in a few scenes. A man seems threatening about a girl’s stories and tells a woman to be careful; she understands and tells her husband that they will be in trouble if the child does not stop lying. A man in a town square reads the names of soldiers killed, wounded or missing in war in several scenes and we see the loved ones cry. A boy is frustrated that he cannot hear a woman when she speaks to two girls and he asks if it is because he throws stones at other boys that beat him up. A girl says several times that a woman told her that they have to suffer. A man suggests that a girl that says she saw a woman identified as the Holy Mother was actually seeing the devil. A young boy that we are told cannot walk takes a step after a girl asks for a miracle; the boy is told, “You will be healed if you believe.” A young girl says, “I just saw the devil” and she runs away saying that she needs to pray. A husband and his wife argue about faith and he insists that faith is dangerous. A teen girl is sent away from home to work at someone else’s home to help her family with money. A man tells a girl that her brother is dead.
► Many people gather in a field in the rain and the sky clears to reveal the sun and it seems to dance around in the sky with flames shooting out and people look at it, a loud rumbling sound reverberates through the sky and people run in fear and then stop and look back at the sun. Lighting and thunder flash in the sky and three children run to round up sheep before the rain comes; more lighting cracks in the sky, a tree shakes and a woman appears and speaks to them about needing to pray for peace and to not insult God, and she tells them that they will go to Heaven. A girl is startled and sees a woman come out from behind rocks in a cave and they speak; the woman identifies herself as an angel. A girl hears many people praying as the wind blows around her in a few scenes. A woman is shown in a bed where a doctor examines her. A woman coughs deeply in several scenes and seems to be getting weak.
► Many people with carts filled with possessions trample a field of hay and a man is distraught that they have destroyed his crop. A crowd of people gathers around a house and surrounds three children as they clamber for the children to ask a vision to help them. A woman knocks on a door and asks for “the seers,” and the woman inside says there are no seers there. A man talks about religious superstition in several scenes. A man talks about people nailing people to crosses through the wrists, not through the hands. A girl says, “Hunger is good for the soul.” A man and woman talk about a body having been exhumed and that it was “completely intact.”

Fatima LANGUAGE 1

 – Name-calling (unstable, religious superstition, stupid superstition, stupid faith, nonsense, rubbish, crazy, irrational, scoundrel, ridiculous, illiterate, absurd), 5 religious exclamations (Thank God, May God Forgive Us, Oh Jesus, Don’t Insult the Lord, many prayers are said and sometimes by large groups of people in unison). | profanity glossary |

Fatima SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man says that he will buy a round of drinks for everyone in a bar, and a young woman pours wine for her father at a dinner table.

Fatima DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Poverty, desperation, faith, World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic, hope, grief, atonement, secrets, lying, doubt, lack of affection, jealousy, divine providence, visions, insurrection, sins, imagination, rumors.

Fatima MESSAGE

 – Pray the rosary for peace and do not insult God.