Fragments

After a shooting takes place in a diner, its victims are forced to piece their shattered lives back together. They all deal with their pain and grief in different ways, though they attempt to pick up the broken pieces and go back to their normal lives, the victims soon realize that they must face what happened in the diner.

With an all-star cast, “Fragments,” is a chilling tale of how people cope with tragedies; some find religion, some find family, some find money, but in the end, it is up to the victim to decide what happens next.

Morality Issues

Profanity: There are 17 uses of profanity, which I found to be mild for an R-rated film. There are 2 uses of “damn”, 9 uses of “f***”, 1 use of “G**damn”, 2 uses of “Hell”, 2 uses of “sh**”, and 1 use of “prick”. There were also 8 uses of OMG. As was previously stated, the cursing was mild for an R-rated film, but that does not mean the profanity used was acceptable. I had a problem with the 1 use of the Lord’s name in vain, it just wasn’t necessary, the use of the “F” word is debatable since this is an R film and is expected, but the word itself is horrible.

Violence: Since the entire film revolves around the shooting, it can be expected that there is violence. The violence was kept pretty moderate for an R film. A shooting takes place in a diner, so people are shot and one man is shown in a pool of blood. There is also a hospital scene, where patients are covered in blood and surgery takes place that is somewhat graphic, but could be found on “E.R.” or “Grey’s Anatomy,” so nothing too horrible.

Dr. Bruce Laraby (Guy Pearce) tries to revive one of his patients with paddles, but the patient is brain dead. All of the victims of the shooting have several flashbacks that re-enact what took place from their perspective in the shooting. Charlie Archenault (Forest Whitaker) borrows money from a man, but doesn’t pay up, so the same man breaks his arm with a piece of cement, no blood is shown, but there is the sound of an arm breaking. The violence was kept moderate and was well placed and only used for realistic purposes.

Sexuality: The sex was very vulgar, inappropriate and unnecessary; as usual, directors forget how good of a movie they have made and try to spice it up with sex, when, in reality, it isn’t needed. Dr. Bruce Laraby and his wife Joan (Embeth Davidtz) have a brief bedroom scene, where Bruce’s backside can be seen and semi-graphic noises can be heard; there is also a brief and clean kissing scene between the couple, and Bruce is seen in his pajamas with his shirt off. Carla Davenport (Kate Beckinsale) has a very vulgar sex scene with a man, he can be seen humping her and the noise is very graphic, the scene is horrible. Charlie is solicited by a prostitute, and she performs oral sex on him, and her breasts are shown with her in underwear. And Carla is drunk at a bar and is grinding on a random drunk man. Also, Anne Hagen (Dakota Fanning) pecks Jimmy Jaspersen (Josh Hutcherson) on the cheek and on the lips. Again, the sex was so needless, because the storyline was so strong; and yes, sex is one way that one of the characters copes with the shooting, however, they didn’t have to show it.

Miscellaneous: Jimmy contemplates committing suicide while on the edge of a building, but Anne convinces him to come down. Joan can be seen vomiting after being drugged by Bruce. Carla cannot deal with what happened, so she starts neglecting her baby. There are a couple instances of people drinking, but nothing over the top. Charlie is seen gambling at a casino and can be seen urinating but nothing is shown, but he ends up urinating blood out.

Spiritual Issues

The movie actually had a very good view of God and leaning on Him in times of need—several crosses appear throughout the movie. ***SPOILER WARNING*** After the shooting, Anne is left to deal with her grief of what happened and turns to God for help. She prays fervently and starts a prayer program at her school to help others who are in need. Although she takes it to an extreme and refuses to grieve for her loss, she strives to lean on God and in the end comes to a balance and realizes that she has to allow herself to grieve. ***END SPOILER***

Several times, people thank God for their loved ones being kept safe, and a doctor admits to his colleague that they can’t play God and sometimes they don’t get to decide who lives and who dies. In Matthew 11, Jesus tells his followers to come to Him for rest.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

The main flaw with this film is the sexuality, it is very inappropriate and unnecessary. The bedroom scenes should not have been shown; why not end the scene with kissing, instead of ruining the entire movie with vulgar sex scenes. Sex is for a married couple, yes the Larabys were under the cover of their marriage, but they didn’t need to show the whole world the benefits of marriage. Carla and Charlie had no business committing sexual acts with individuals that were not their spouses.

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

My Recommendation

Because this film failed so horribly in the sexual arena, I cannot recommend it for entertainment purposes, especially for those under the age of 18 because of its content. However, this film was deeply moving and really makes the viewer think. The cast was amazing (Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Josh Hutcherson, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kate Beckinsale), you don’t get a better ensemble than that. They do a tremendous job, the viewer really feels for what the characters go through, and many discussions can come out of the storyline. The story is outstanding and realistic, so it tells the story how it would happen in real life and ends realistically. The independent film genre is growing on me and really makes movies into works of art. I do recommend this film for educational purposes, for example, this would be a great film for psychology students who are interested in going into therapy/counseling, the movie shows realistically how people would try and cope with a tragedy. “Fragments” is a masterful film that is ruined by vulgar sexuality, and in the end, its fate is decided by you, the viewer. Is it worth the compromise? You decide.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Heavy

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.