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HOLY DAYS

“A Journey of Laughter and Healing”

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

None Light Moderate Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

Set in New Zealand, HOLY DAYS is a comedy adapted from a novel. Brian is a young boy struggling with grief after losing his mother. Brian is a good kid, but his grief turns into hate when his father starts seeing another woman. Brian’s only consolation is his best friends, three nuns living in a convent on the edge of town. One day, shocking news arrives that the convent will be sold to a developer. The sisters must secure the deed to stop this, but the deed’s located a long distance away. They depart immediately, taking Brian with them. 

HOLY DAYS skillfully blends humor and heartbreak, bringing the story to a satisfying end. The character arcs are moving and well done. HOLY DAYS has a strong Christian, moral worldview promoting love, forgiveness and reconciliation. A boy filled with hate has a change of heart and moves toward forgiveness. Catholicism is central to the plot, with nuns, religious clothing and prayer. However, over time, the nuns smoke, drink and use inappropriate language. HOLY DAYS treats this behavior as comical. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children. 

Content:

C, BB, Ab, O, L, V, A, D, M): 

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

  Strong Christian, redemptive, moral worldview promotes love, forgiveness and reconciliation, told from a Roman Catholic perspective, with Catholicism central to the plot with nuns, religious attire and prayer throughout, but mixed views of morality appear as some characters depart their values to smoke, drink and use profane or vulgar words, sometimes by accident, and a child gives his stepmother a note saying she’s a witch and should go to He** (the movie doesn’t condemn all this behavior but treats it as comical, presenting it as positive or acceptable);

Foul Language:

  Three obscenities include two “h” words and the vulgar term for an illegitimate child, and five profanities include OMG, and a boy seeks penance for abusing Christ’s name, a character unintentionally says the wrong words for things like “prostituted” instead of “prosecuted,” a child briefly gives the middle finger, and an elderly lady quotes a Bible verse that mentions genitals;

Violence:

  An elderly lady dies peacefully, a boy throws a tantrum and destroys some things, boy also yells at his stepmother that he hates her;

Sex:

  No sex (a couple just kisses one another at their wedding);

Nudity:

  An elderly lady doesn’t realize she has a hole in the rear end of her undergarments at the beach, but nothing explicit is visual;

Alcohol Use:

  A character drinks wine, plus when a woman tells a man he shouldn’t mix medicine with alcohol, he replies gruffly that he’s going to mix her with alcohol;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

  Characters smoke on multiple occasions, but there are no drug references or drug use; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

  Stealing, blackmail and gambling occur along with some cruder comedy, including blowing out a candle by farting. 

 

 

More Detail:

Set in New Zealand, HOLY DAYS is a comedy adapted from a novel by Joy Cowley. It follows young Brian Collins as he struggles with the grief after his mother’s recent death. Brian is a good kid but struggles to adjust to changes in his family. His father has started dating a new woman, Liz, and Brian hates her. Brian shows his displeasure with her daily and even steals some of her belongings. 

 The only place he finds consolation is with his three best friends, Sisters Luke, Mary Clare and Agnes, three nuns who knew his mother and live in a convent on the edge of town. Brian spends much of his time at the convent, helping with maintenance and talking with the three nuns. 

 One day, shocking news arrives that the convent will be sold to a developer. The sisters realize they must secure the deed to stop this. However, the deed’s located a long distance away, on the South Island of New Zealand. The nuns depart immediately and take Brian with them. 

 During the long car ride, many comical adventures bring them closer together, and Brian finally processes some of his grief. He learns important lessons and recognizes changes he needs to make in his attitude. When they finally arrive at the location of the deed, they discover more shocking news that changes everything. 

 HOLY DAYS balances both comedy and emotional depth. The movie skillfully blends humor and heartbreak, bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. The character arcs are excellent, and the score supports the emotional journey. 

 HOLY DAYS has a strong Christian, redemptive, moral worldview of forgiveness and reconciliation. A hurting boy filled with hate gradually experiences a change of heart and moves toward forgiveness. Catholicism is central to the plot, with nuns, religious attire and prayer featured throughout the movie. 

 However, some mixed moral elements also appear. Over time, the nuns become more relaxed about their values and begin to smoke, drink and use inappropriate language. HOLY DAYS doesn’t condemn this behavior but treats it as comical, which may make it seem acceptable.  

 So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children and young teenagers.