10 Most INAPPROPRIATE Scenes In Kids Movies

It seems like it was the law at one point that every child had to watch this film at least once at school, most likely during an end-of-year English lesson that nobody could be bothered with. It doesn't hold back on issues like juvenile delinquency, the failure of underfunded and unregulated government programmes, and racism.

Stanley Yelnats IV's detention at Camp Green Lake following his misidentification as a shoe thief is the main plot, but there are multiple interwoven throughout which unwittingly have as much impact on his time in juvenile detention. Kissing Kate Barlow's unlawful rampage is the entire reason for Green Lake's drought, and why camp warden Louise Walker' obsesses over digging up the whole desert in search of Barlow's treasure.

Kate Barlow's banditry also provides the most shocks here. This tale of woe involves her falling in love with a black man, which goes down about as well as you'd expect in the 1800s deep south. Poor Sam, who only ever wanted to sell onions and help out the young school teacher Katherine Barlow, ends up lynched by her jealous suitors. Kate witnesses the whole thing, and sets out to take revenge on anyone who had a hand in Sam's murder.

The depiction of the deeply embedded racism in the film is heartbreaking, but it still doesn't prepare you for Kate Barlow's eventual fate. Driven into outlaw status, she's wanted by many, but especially by the Walker family who have been left bankrupt by her robberies. Rather than let the people who killed Sam ever get their money back, Barlow kills herself on screen by allowing herself to be bit by a poisonous lizard.

Introducing kids to uncomfortable topics is necessary, and Holes does it in one of the most successful and poignant ways. But even now, as a grown adult, the fates of Sam and Kate Barlow are difficult to stomach.