The Book Of Clarence

People are whipped, punched, impaled with spears or struck with stones, resulting in moderate bloody images. Nails are hammered through a man’s hands during a crucifixion scene, but the process detail is kept off screen.

There are scenes of moderate threat in which a man is arrested and crucified. In another scene, a crowd of people hurl stones at a screaming woman who has been chained to a wall, but she is soon saved by the intervention of another person.

There is infrequent use of strong language (‘motherf**ker’) and implied strong language (‘What the f–?’). Milder terms include ‘prick’, ‘whore’, ‘bastard’, ‘shit’ and ‘ass’, in addition to peer-to-peer use of the terms ‘n***a’ and ‘negro’.

The film contains moderate sex references and innuendo, including undetailed references to masturbation and sex work.

There are occasional scenes of racism, which is implicitly condemned. For example, in a scene alluding to racist police brutality in the present day, a white Roman soldier throws spears at an unarmed Black man who is running away, repeatedly impaling him. In another scene, white soldiers stop a pair of Black men on the spurious basis that they ‘match the description’ of a suspect.

Intoxicated people are shown floating into the air after inhaling from shisha pipes. Other scenes depict joint smoking and drug dealing. Drug misuse is not endorsed by the film as a whole.

There are sustained images of blood on people’s skin and clothing in the context of violence, as well as briefer sight of patches of blood on the sand in a gladiator arena. There are also moderate aftermath images of impalement injuries resulting from crucifixion.

There are occasional scenes of emotional upset and bereavement. A conman performs fake ‘healing miracles’ in order to convince people that he is the Messiah, but he later repents and becomes a true convert to the Christian faith.