The Cup

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about The Cup's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of The Cup completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 10 October 2011.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie The Cup contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

The Melbourne Cup; horse racing; death of family members

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

The Cup contains no person-to-person violence of concern, but scenes of horse racing injury and death which may be distressing to children and are described below under “Material that may scare or disturb children”.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

There are a number of scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of eight, including the following:

• Black and white newsreel footage shows the death of Damien’s father, we see images of a horse tumbling over its jockey and a funeral service with men carrying a coffin.
• A couple of images of a horse rearing up in a threatening manner.
• Damien shows a scar on his shoulder and describes how he received the injury along with several other injuries he received as a result of falls from horses including broken collar bone, wrist and ankle.
• Several scenes depict newsreel images of the 2002 Bali bombings including actual footage of the smoking building in ruins and survivors walking around including a image of a man with cuts over his face; the images are brief. We hear how a man received burns to 50% of his body and is in hospital fighting for his life.
• Jason Oliver tumbles headfirst over a horse which then somersaults through the air to land on top of him; we do not see images of the horse landing on top of Jason, but the inference is clear. Jason is carried on a stretcher with his neck in a brace and we then see him attached to a respirator. Later we see distraught family members standing at his bedside as the life support machine is turned off. 
• In a flashback scene we see Damien and Jason’s father lying in a hospital bed attached to a respirator with Damien’s mother crying at his bedside. 
• In several scenes we see people emotionally distraught and crying over the news that Jason would not recover from his injuries.  

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Most children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

The film contains infrequent low-level sexual innuendo. Examples include:

• In reference to attracting the affections of his wife, Damien refers to himself as “batting above my average”.
• When a man leaves his wife to travel to Australia for work his wife tells him in a joking manner to “watch out for those Australian women”.
• In reference to several woman wearing bikini tops and shorts while riding horses along a beach a man says, “I think he likes the bikinis” (“he” is one of the horses being ridden).

Nudity and sexual activity

The film contains some partial nudity and infrequent low-level sexual activity:

• Jockeys seen in a change room with bare chests.
• Damien’s wife sits up in bed wearing a nightdress with a plunging neckline. Damien, with a bare chest, sits on the bed, then dives under the bed covers and for a brief moment the pair move about under the covers.
• Women in low-cut bikini tops and evening dresses and brief shorts.
  

Use of substances

There is some occasional alcohol use in this movie. Examples include:

• Social drinking of champagne, wine and beer
• We see bottle of spirits sitting on a table in a man’s office.

Coarse language

There is some infrequent low-level coarse language and name calling in this movie. Examples include:

• Dirty rotten traitors, bullshit, smells like crap, damn well, bloody, Oh my god, bugger all, god damn it, fan-bloody-tastic, crafty dog, arses

The movie's message

The Cup is an emotionally charged drama targeting an adult audience, particularly those with a love for horse racing and interest in the Melbourne Cup. It lacks interest for children and contains distressing scenes of injury and death.

The main message from this movie is that being a champion isn’t just about winning, but about persevering regardless of adversity.
 
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Friendship and perseverance through adversity: With the help of family and friends, and a strong will and determination Damien was able to persevere through great emotional adversity.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss the life of a jockey and the consequences of participating in the dangerous and demanding sport of horse racing.