Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this historical melodrama has bloody violence -- throat slashings, scalpings, shootings -- plus attempted rape. Brief male and female nudity are shown in a non-sexual context and several sex scenes are non-explicit. Students who watch this movie as a shortcut for reading the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel should wear the scarlet "S" (for slacker), and know that it deviates from the the book a lot.

Sexual Content

Full male nudity shown in a skinny-dipping context. Hester is briefly completely naked from the side as she bathes. Topless Indian women. A non-explicit sex scene between Hester and Arthur.

Violence

Bloody violence emphasizes throat slashings, arrows in the neck ,and spurting, severed arteries (and scalpings) in Indian attacks. The white militia slays Indians with guns. A gruesomely mutilated corpse. A near-rape. One character's eye gouged. Roger Prynne messes with a gory, gutted deer. Death by hanging. Dimmesdale self-mutilates (gripping a gallows until blood runs from his hands).

Language

"Slut." Puritans discuss sex in euphemistic fashion ("poking," "private parts").

Social Behavior

General criticism of repressive religious patriarchies that restrict/punish free thought, especially as it relates to love and sensuality. The idea that a couple's love can be stronger than social conventions and rules.

Consumerism

Not applicable

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

Not applicable