When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.
This movie contains 30 potentially triggering events.
humanehollywood.org shows that there were no animals harmed in the making of this film. From what I can tell there are real dead animal props in play but they were sourced humanely (I tend not to mind the use of real bodies as props as long as the American Humane Society confirms the receipts to show they were not harmed or killed on set, but purchased from a butcher shop or the like Re: the horse head in the Godfather).
06:00 carcass on the floor. 10:30. Just after the top view of a feast. From 38:00-38:20 there is a pig carcass being thrown into the woods. Again at 44:00 there a two small skinned animals hanging from the door.
A character is described to have been raped by a group of men in an alley and murdered. Not shown but mentioned suddenly and with much feeling. It was triggering to multiple people watching it with me.
A character having a panic attack wheezes audibly and clutches at her chest, and another character makes wet wheezing noises with blood on his teeth as he dies on camera after a fall, seeming to be trying to breathe around blood
a character falls into a pit (presumably to their death) and is seen with blood in their mouth so it’s assumed there’s damage enough to cause internal bleeding and maybe broken bones
a character who is married has feelings for someone other than his spouse and will not act on them. both characters seem to be intensely aware of this in a “together” way at one point. no cheating occurs
Noah has an unspecified developemental disability with many autistic traits… my guess would be autism with a comorbid intellectual disability and/or traumatic brain injury. He is overall treated kindly by the villagers but there is a “Quiet Room” which he is apparently locked in when he does something they deem punishable. While quiet rooms for sensory regulation are fine, the problem is that it doesn’t seem to be his choice whether or not to go in.
*SPOILERS* Folks with developemental disabilities might find Noah being the surprise antagonist of the film offensive. After he unexpectedly stabs Lucius, he is repeatedly hit by Ivy, the person he loves and trusts most. He doesn’t seem to fully grasp the situation. He is later killed by Ivy (she is unaware that it is him) and it’s incredibly sad.
SPOILER:: :: very bittersweet. a beloved character dies, unbeknownst to the main character, while at the same time the main character succeeds in a hairy situation, yielding great hope.