To engage an audience while exploring the evils of the past is not an easy task, but this film does a nice job. This reviewer, over many reviews, has suggested that the era we live in now is much much darker than most of us can perceive. Historians of the future looking back at the present will use a sharper lens and see things we of the present missed. Faced with such a challenge, WE WERE DANGEROUS chooses to entertain rather than educate. The ensemble cast works a treat and holds the attention. No gratuitously morbid scenes. Just a hint here and there. At one point Matron notes that, just a few years back (from the 50s), the girls might have been lobotomized. Point taken. Well done. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))