She's Too Young

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She's Too Young

Directed by	Tom McLoughlin
Produced by	Michael Mahoney
Written by	Richard Kletter
Starring	Alexis Dziena Mike Erwin Marcia Gay Harden
Music by	Mark Snow
Distributed by	Lifetime
Release date(s)	February 16, 2004
Running time	88 minutes
Language	English
IMDb profile

She's Too Young is a made-for-TV movie released in 2004, starring Marcia Gay Harden as the mother of a 14 year old daughter who is involved in sexual acts hidden from her parents. The purpose of the film is to show the repercussions of casual teen sex in modern society. The movie was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia^[1] with the school scenes being shot at Halifax West High School. It stars Alexis Dziena and Mike Erwin. The film deals with the issues of drugs and alcohol, peer pressure, parenting an adolescent, the influence of the sexually-driven media, and teen partying.

[edit] Plot

This film centers around three 14-year-old high school freshmen girls: Dawn, Becca, and Hannah. When "good girl" Hannah is peer pressured by her friends into having oral sex with an older boy named Nick who Hannah likes and is 16 years old in order to fit in with her sexually experienced peers, her life turns upside down, and she soon finds herself keeping secrets from her protective mother. Hannah's mother, who thinks that her daughter is a great student and innocent girl, questions Hannah constantly about how she is feeling, and what she has been doing, but Hannah is reluctant to reveal what she has done with Nick, knowing that her mother would be appalled and devastated. Hannah's father tells his wife that there is nothing to worry about, thinking that she is smart enough to not do such things. When Hannah's best friend Dawn gets syphilis, the nurses at school begin widespread testing, and it soon becomes clear that the school is experiencing a syphilis epidemic. Nick is identified as the main spreader of the disease, and yet he refuses testing and even mocks those who undergo testing. Becca, the most promiscuous of the three girls, reluctantly agrees to get tested, and finds out that she, too, has contracted the disease. Hannah notices a sore in her mouth one morning while brushing her teeth, and a test reveals that she is also infected, and she is forced to deal with the consequences of her actions.

When Hannah's mother finds out about the syphilis, she launches an effort to alert the school parents about their kids' behaviors and teach parents to set stronger boundaries to prevent future tragedies like the syphilis crisis from occuring in the future. Although Hannah's mother is sure that other parents will be concerned about overcoming the crisis and helping their children, she is shocked by the reality that many parents are indifferent to their children's actions, and would rather not discuss the disease at all. When Hannah's mother talks to Nick's mother one day, she finds that Nick's mother isn't even remorseful of her son's actions, and actually tells Hannah's mother that it was perhaps Hannah that gave Nick syphilis, not the other way around. Hannah's mother responds with a outcry that Hannah was a virgin, and even then, Nick's mother still does not really care about Hannah, Nick, and the other people that Nick has harmed due to his careless behavior.