Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Story

In a post-apocalyptic world, Australia is a nuclear wasteland. People live in primal tribes led by sadistic warlords, fighting over the remaining resources of water, food, fuel and weapons.

A young Furiosa (Alyla Brown) belongs to the Green Place of Many Mothers – the last place where there’s an abundance of food and fresh water. Raiders from the Biker Horde, however, discover the Green Place. They capture Furiosa and take her back to their leader, Dr Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Furiosa’s mother Mary (Charlee Fraser) pursues the bikers and kills Furiosa’s captors before they can reveal the Green Place’s location. Dementus, however, captures Mary and forces Furiosa to watch her death by crucifixion. Dementus then keeps Furiosa and brings her up as his daughter.

The Biker Horde are enemies of the War Boys, led by Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). The War Boys possess the Citadel, a Wasteland settlement that has fresh water. The Biker Horde attack the Citadel but are repelled. So they try to take Gastown, another Wasteland settlement that supplies fuel to the Citadel. There, Dementus and Immortan Joe reach a trade deal, which includes the exchange of Furiosa. Immortan Joe takes her into a harem of women he keeps to produce children. Furiosa realises she’s in danger there and escapes. She shaves her head, and for many years she works inside the Citadel as a mute boy.

Some years later, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) works on a heavily armed supply tanker, called the War Rig, designed to withstand raider attacks on supply runs. On one supply run, under heavy fire, many crew members are killed. Furiosa and Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) are the only survivors. They become close and decide to return to the Green Place together. Their plans are again thwarted by Dementus, who chases after them and captures them both.

Furiosa again watches the death of someone she loves, but she manages to escape. She returns alone to the Citadel, where she plots her revenge on Dementus.

Themes

Dystopian futures; tribalism; savagery; warlords; wars; torture; revenge

Violence

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has a lot of extreme violence. This includes many war scenes that show people:

shooting with rifles, guns, missiles and arrows
using blades and scimitars
throwing explosives
setting others on fire
crashing vehicles.

There are many disturbing and violent scenes that might affect viewers aged 15 and over. They include the following:

A man bleeds from the mouth and coughs up blood. He’s hung upside down, and dogs lick the blood from his face.
Mary is hit by an explosive and is set on fire.
Dementus prises Furiosa’s eyes open so she can watch her mother being hung on a cross and killed with a knife across her throat.
A man is chained by his hands and feet to 4 motorbikes. On command, the bikes roar away, pulling the man apart limb by limb. Dementus is given a ‘blood sausage’ to eat.
A man is given a chopped-off finger wrapped in paper.
A man is trapped inside a torture machine, which screws into his head. He’s thrown to the ground and killed by the contraption.
Immortan Joe orders his men to pull Dementus’s chest armour off. This leaves his nipples bleeding.
Dementus crashes into a vehicle in which Furiosa and Jack are travelling. It tips upside down, and they both appear dead. They aren’t dead, however, and are pulled out from the wreck. Jack is then tied to a motorbike by chains and dragged along the ground for hours. Dementus lets his dogs eat Jack’s dying body.
Furiosa is chained up by her already injured arm. She escapes by cutting her arm off. She leaves it still hanging and dripping blood.
Furiosa’s final act of revenge includes tying Dementus up in chains, repeatedly hitting him, dragging him along behind a car, and tying him up in a tree to hang. She then uses his still-living body to act as fertiliser to grow a peach tree.

Sexual references

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has some sexual references. For example:

Women are kept in a harem for Immortan Joe’s pleasure.
A teenage Furiosa is approached by a man in the harem. He obviously intends to have sex with her, but she fights him off and escapes.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Nudity and sexual activity

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, a painter paints a mural of nude women, which shows bare breasts.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Coarse language

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has some coarse language, including ‘tits’, ‘moron’ and ‘bastards’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a post-apocalyptic action adventure. The movie is a spin-off from and prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road and the fifth instalment of the Mad Max series.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga shows the descent of humanity into a brutal, sadistic, lawless state in which gangs, ruled by warlords, will do anything it takes to survive. The movie’s strong violence makes it unsuitable for viewers aged under 15 years. We also recommend parental guidance for viewers aged 15-16 years.

The main message from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is that people need to cooperate and share resources to survive.

Values in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga that you could reinforce with your children include female strength, collaboration and resource-sharing.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of maintaining social and civic values. And you could talk about the movie’s violence. Would the movie be just as good if it didn’t show so much violence and depravity?