CODA
A beautiful family drama with adult-only content concerns.
Should You Watch It?
CODA is a well-made, heartwarming drama with a realistic feel and excellent acting. Its strongest gift is a beautiful message about loving your family, staying together, helping one another, and making sacrifices for the people you love.
That message comes with serious costs. The film includes excessive foul language, lots of strongly implied and demonstrated sex, marijuana use, and references to meditation. Those concerns make it unsuitable for children and young teens, even though the family relationships and moral themes have real strength.
If you are a discerning adult willing to weigh those elements, this is a moving and worthwhile family drama. For children and young teens, choose something else.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESRuby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. She spends her days interpreting for them, helping with their fishing business, and going to school.
When Ruby joins the school choir, her teacher recognizes a natural talent and pushes her to become a great singer. Ruby must then decide whether she can pursue what she loves while her family learns to stand without her help.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means CODA is a notably strong film. It is well made, powerful, touching, and realistic in its portrayal of Ruby’s family and the tensions surrounding her future.
The acting is excellent. The story is heartwarming, and its message about family love, mutual sacrifice, and overcoming obstacles gives the drama emotional weight. The film’s craft and feeling are strong enough to make its content concerns especially disappointing.
The Worldview
CODA strongly affirms family love, prayer, helping one another, staying together, and making sacrifices for one another. It also presents parents staying together as a married couple. These elements give the film a strong Christian, moral, pro-family worldview.
The movie also supports a pro-American, pro-capitalist, free-market and free-enterprise perspective. Government regulations and taxes make it difficult for fishermen to do their jobs and still be paid, giving the film an underlying message that government involvement can complicate business.
The film’s worldview is not wholly sound. It includes false pagan references to meditation, along with sexual content, marijuana use, and foul language that weaken its otherwise positive moral emphasis. Its central longing is for a family to remain united while each person learns to love and serve the others. Scripture says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong Christian, moral, pro-family worldview includes mentions of prayer, family members helping each other, an emphasis on staying together as a family, family members making sacrifices for one another, and parents staying together as a married couple, plus strong pro-American, pro-capitalist, free market, free enterprise themes that include a theme of governments hurting business with regulations and taxes, but there are some false pagan references to meditation
Foul Language
33 obscenities, three profanities including one use of Jesus Christ as curse word, and statements about having an infection in one’s private parts
Violence
No violence
Sex
lots of strongly implied and demonstrated sex, married couple is seen briefly making love and implied sex with a high schooler
Nudity
Upper male nudity
Alcohol Use
Some drinking
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No tobacco use but there’s marijuana smoking;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Lying, bullying.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Ruby’s family members help and sacrifice for one another. What does love look like when it requires giving something up?
John 15:13 · Philippians 2:3–4Ruby wants to pursue a gift while still caring for her family. How can you honor your responsibilities while faithfully developing what God has given you?
Romans 12:6–8 · Colossians 3:23The film emphasizes staying together as a family. What practices help your family remain united when life brings pressure or disagreement?
Ephesians 4:2–3 · Colossians 3:12–14CODA includes references to meditation. How can you discern whether a spiritual practice agrees with biblical teaching?
1 John 4:1 · Acts 17:11The Final Word
CODA offers discerning adults excellent acting, a realistic touch, and a deeply moving picture of family love and sacrifice. Its sexual content, foul language, marijuana use, and meditation references make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For mature viewers who can weigh those concerns, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For family-friendly alternatives, see.
