ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

Name: ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
Item: ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
Author: Cooper Dowd

"Light Triumphs Over Darkness"

Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is a four-part limited series on Netflix, set in World War II. tells the story of a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and her father, Daniel LeBlanc, who flee the National Socialist Germans occupying Paris. They are carrying a famous diamond that supposedly will give the owner eternal life but maim or murder all the owner’s loved ones. Daniel doesn’t believe the curse, but he doesn’t want the Nazis to get the diamond. A Nazi officer Reinhold von Rumpel, who’s also a jeweler, is obsessed with finding the blind girl and getting the diamond.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is riveting and well stocked with intense jeopardy. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger. The dialogue is also magnificent as is the acting, the sets, the costumes, and the direction. Some flashbacks are sometimes disorienting, however. ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is an extremely exciting, morally affirming, heroic miniseries. It’s a powerful testimony of good triumphing over evil with strong Christian references, but it has some strong foul language and violence. MOVIEGUDIE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(BB, ACACAC, CC, LL, VV, S, A, DD, M)

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong moral worldview about individuals and the French Resistance standing up against the cruelty of National Socialism with one young German forsaking the German army because he has listened to “the professor” talk about the light, with overt Christian references, including the title and the statement that in heaven we will see God face to face, which he will make possible even if you’re blind, and the statement that the blindness is not a misfortune but a blessing, as well as shots of a crucifix, churches, Nuns, and other Christian visuals

Foul Language:

Eight obscenities, mostly the “f” word, and three profanities, one light, but two involving Jesus

Violence:

Lots of wartime violence including several executions, several shootings, man tortures another man with jeweler’s tools and finally bashes his head in with a hammer, several hand-to-hand fights, including boys beating up on another young man

Sex:

French woman offers herself to German officer to save her life, but he refuses her, so no sex is shown, plus a reference to the French being a loose, immoral culture

Nudity:

No nudity

Alcohol Use:

Frequent alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Frequent smoking and strong medical narcotic drugs for a German officer who’s dying; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Forged identity papers, lying to the Gestapo, cruel threats of violence, extreme fears, and flashbacks to World War 1.

More Detail:

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is an extremely exciting, morally affirming, heroic television series on Netflix. The four-part limited series tells the story of a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and her father, Daniel LeBlanc, who flee the National Socialist Germans who are occupying Paris with a famous diamond that supposedly will give the owner eternal life but maim or murder all the owner’s loved ones. Daniel doesn’t want the National Socialist Germans to get the diamond because it belongs to France.

Daniel is the custodian at a museum in Paris. He doesn’t believe the curse.

The four parts are structured with a tremendous amount of jeopardy and frequent flashbacks to tell the story. The two major stories that come together are Daniel and Marie fleeing to the coastal town of Saint Malo where they move in with a reclusive uncle who sends radio broadcasts for the Resistance and an aunt who has organized the old ladies as spies. The other story is about a young orphan named Werner Pfennig in a Catholic orphanage in Germany who is a genius and forcibly taken into Hitler’s crack radio squad to locate radio signals from the Resistance. Werner and Maria both have in common that as young people they listened to a short-wave channel where “the professor” told of a better world that focused on “all the light we cannot see.”

There are several villains in the story, but the major villain is Nazi officer Reinhold von Rumpel. Reinhold is the only person in his squad because he was the only German jeweler who was not Jewish, and he was sent to collect all the jewels in France and deliver them to Hitler. The jeweler is dying of a vicious auto immune disease. Reinhold von Rumpel tortures Daniel, finds out Marie

is in St. Malo, and comes to St. Malo where he tortures and executes several of the townspeople trying to find the blind Marie who is now relaying secret messages to the Allies so they can bomb accurately.

Meanwhile, Werner’s superior does not trust him after Werner kills the other radio operator. However, he needs Werner and tells him that Werner will personally have to kill the blind Marie when they find her. The four episodes reveal the backgrounds on Marie, Daniel, Uncle Etienne, Werner, and the other main characters.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is riveting and well stocked with intense jeopardy. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger. The dialogue is also magnificent as is the acting, the sets, the costumes, and the direction. If there is one difficulty, it is that the flashbacks frequently disorient the audience. Even so, the series is a powerful testimony of good triumphing over evil with strong visual references to the church, the cross, to Christ, and milder dialogue referencing heaven and blessings.

The four-part miniseries has very intense violence, especially the torture and killing of Daniel, although there is very little blood. Also, the Germans use the “f” word several times, which they would have not done because it is not a swear word in German. They also take Jesus Christ’s name in vain. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for this very exciting, powerful series about resisting tyranny.