Summer of Soul: parents' guide
Best for ages 13 and up. Rated PG-13 for some disturbing images, smoking and brief drug material.
A joyful, history-rich concert documentary for teens and music-loving tweens watching with a parent. Questlove restores long-lost footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, with Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone and others, and sets it against the turmoil of that era. Swearing and sexual content are minimal. The PG-13 comes from archival news images, including the bodies of Malcolm X and Dr. King just after their assassinations, cities burning and war dead, plus smoking and footage from Harlem's heroin crisis. We suggest 13 for those disturbing images and the drug material.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateNo staged violence, but archival news footage shows Robert Kennedy's shooting, the bodies of Malcolm X and Dr. King moments after their killings, a dead soldier in Vietnam, a Black man killed by police, riots, and police pinning Black men to the ground.
Language
MildVery little. Reviewers note a single 'goddamn'; interviews, stage banter and lyrics are otherwise clean, though some speeches are angry and political.
Sex and nudity
MildNo sex. A few song lyrics are suggestive, some performers are shirtless, and brief clips from the stage musical Hair include partial nudity and cast members undressed on stage.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
StrongBrief but real: archival footage of a man badly impaired by heroin during a segment on Harlem's addiction crisis, and one review notes people smoking marijuana. Performers, audience members and Redd Foxx smoke cigarettes on camera.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateThe music is uplifting, but the historical montages are heavy: assassination aftermath, neighborhoods on fire, and interviewees recalling segregation, racist abuse and the grief of 1968. Sensitive viewers may be shaken by the real deaths shown.
Sensitive topics
- Racism
- Addiction
Worth talking about
Why do you think this festival's footage sat unseen for 50 years while Woodstock became legendary? Whose stories get remembered, and who decides?
On our lists
Similar picks around 13+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, movieguide.org, the MPA, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.