Bless The Child

BLESS THE CHILD

Quality: * * * Acceptability: -2

RATING: R

STARRING: Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Rufus Sewell, Ian Holm, Angela Bettis, and Christina Ricci

DIRECTOR: Chuck Russell

DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures

GENRE: Spiritual Warfare/Fantasy

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Adults

SUMMARY: Bless the Child opens as a Christmas star appears and Maggie (played by Kim Basinger) is told that a special child will be born. Her drug addict sister abandons her baby Cody to Maggie. As the years progress, it becomes clear that Cody is special. Eventually, children born on the same day as Cody are killed in a slaughter of the innocents. FBI agent John Travis discovers that Satanists, calling themselves New Dawn and led by Eric Stark, are trying to find Cody. Stark either must convert Cody to the devil, or sacrifice her. In the spiritual battle, demons appear, vermin attack and violence occurs.

Bless the Child is a blatant Christian allegory with a few Catholic symbols. The movie testifies that Jesus is God incarnate and attacks atheistic, morally relativistic, psychological solutions. Although there is no sex nor nudity in Bless the Child, the intense violence is compounded because it involves a young child. Therefore, this is not a movie for children. Bless the Child brings Christian allegory to the big screen and deserves enthusiastic support.

CONTENT: Strong moral Christian worldview attacking atheistic, morally relativistic, psychological solutions; 9 obscenities; extreme violence including, but not limited to, a woman's head falls off after decapitation, knitting needles jammed into eyes, rats attack woman, demons and Satanists beat people, vagrant man burned to death, car demolitions, woman injected with drugs while child watches, man shoots other men and bullets explode, woman stabs man with knife, threats of violence including child sacrifice; and child being told to jump off roof; no sex but discussions of profligate lifestyle; no nudity; alcohol use; smoking and drug use; and, many Christian symbols, allegories and metaphors as well as many Satanic symbols depicted as evil.

MOVIE GUIDE RATINGS

QUALITY

(The production quality) Excellent ****; Good ***; Fair **; Poor *

ACCEPTABILITY (The moral quality)

+4 Exemplary: No questionable elements whatsoever; +3 Moral: Some minor questionable elements; +2 Good: Moderately questionable elements; +1 Wholesome: Recommended but discernment required for young children; -1 Caution: Discussion advised for older children; -2 Extreme Caution: Discretion advised for adults; -3 Bad: Excessive sex, violence and/or immorality; -4 Evil: Intentional blasphemy, evil and/or gross immorality.

GLOSSARY

Profanity-language that desecrates the sacred. Usually, profanity refers to taking God's Name and the Lord Jesus' name in vain. Obscenity-foul, disgusting, offensive, lewd and filthy language. Blasphemy-language or actions which curse, revile, mock or blaspheme God or church.

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Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Sep 1, 2000
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