The Elephant Man
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 18+. A Catholic review of this movie for parents.
Our review
John Merrick is a man whose body is badly twisted by illness. People keep him in a cage and charge money to stare at him. A kind doctor brings him to a hospital, and everyone learns he is gentle and smart, and loves Psalm 23. This is a deeply moving film about the dignity of every person. Merrick's love of Psalm 23 and his cathedral model shine through the cruelty around him. The ending, where he lies down flat though his body needs to sleep sitting up, and dies, needs a parent's frame. The one age is 18, set by the USCCB's A-III; Common Sense Media says 14.
For parents
For adults and mature older teens with a parent. The one age is 18, set by the USCCB's A-III; Common Sense Media says 14 and the MPAA rated it PG. Expect beatings, a man locked in a cage, crowds jeering, a mob chase, frightening deformity and surgery, and Merrick's death. At the end he lies flat, though his skull forces him to sleep sitting up, and dies. Talk about it: our lives belong to God, and we never choose death (CCC 2280). Talk too about the cathedral he builds and the Psalm he loves. Ask: who in this film treats Merrick as a person? Who treats him as a thing? Every person is made in God's image.