Samuel Paty, le temps de la justice: what age is it for? 13 alone, 12 with a parent
13 alone, 12 with a parent.
In France, zinema would say 13.
Alone, or with you
Alone from 13; from 12, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.
The sweet spot: around 13-16, when they have a phone of their own and are learning about free speech in school. Why a sweet spot?
What it's about
The trial of the men who stirred up online hate against a French teacher.
Why 13
- Our readingNot rated in the US. We say 13: A documentary about the trial over the online hate campaign that led to the murder of a teacher in France. The attack is never shown, but it is described in detail, with images from the crime scene. Thirteen on their own, twelve with a parent.reading
- A murder described in detailIn October 2020, Samuel Paty, a French middle-school history and geography teacher, was murdered after a class on free speech in which he had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The film never shows the attack. But about fifteen minutes in, an investigator describes it precisely, the stabbing and the beheading included, and the film reminds us that a nine-year-old boy lost his father.said
- Images from the crime sceneWhile he speaks, you see a police diagram of the body with the head set apart from it, a photo of the street with blood on the ground, the victim's bloodstained bag, and then the last security-camera footage of him, with his attacker following behind.shown
- Online hate, shown as it wasThe film shows the messages that singled out the teacher, calling him a “thug” and a “sick man” and giving the school's name and address, and the video that urged people to spread it as widely as possible. It all started with a lie told by a thirteen-year-old student.shown
- A film made of court hearingsEighty-four minutes, in French, of testimony, drawn or re-created courtroom scenes and legal vocabulary. The film assumes you know about the January 2015 attacks in Paris, Charlie Hebdo and its cartoons, and French secularism. For a few seconds, it shows a cartoon in which the Prophet is drawn naked.shown
What the movie brings
- A rare film for understanding how a rumor shared online can set someone else on the path to violence, and how a court judges words.
Watching it together
Warn them before the fifteen-minute mark, when an investigator describes the murder in detail, and stay with them for that part.
at 13 and up
According to the court, what makes someone guilty when they never held the knife?
See the facts
For the same age, on zinema
- Gajab Raat 17
- The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist 13, 12 with a parent
- Le Charles 13, 12 with a parent
- Ted Lasso 17
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A zinema reading from October 23, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made