Families have varied experiences with their teenagers using
the Internet. While sometimes kids do
very well on their own and innovate new companies, in many more cases people
get into trouble. The idea of a “family
computer” certainly de-emphasizes personal ownership of one’s own expression and
activity.
The independent film “Trust” (2010), by David Schwimmer explores
this problem, by depicting a 14 year old girl Annie (Liana Liberato) who meets
a troll in a chat room. He turns out to
be a 35 year old man, who has an obviously illegal tryst with her in a motel
room (set in Chicago). Annie tells a
high school best friend (Catherine Keener), who in turn tells the high school,
which in turn contacts police. The
father (Clive Owen) is very upset that the school system went over his head. Annie, is also upset that her father and "best friend" involved themselves and made her "unpopular" at school.
Eventually the father plays “Peej” (as in NBC Datelines’
famous program about a sting) and the man is apprehended. But the family faces serious emotional
fracture.
Yes, in this case, the criminal activity is heterosexual (as
were most cases on the Dateline series).
It’s interesting to compare the issues presented in this
movie (through chat rooms) with other issues like cyberbullying (Oct. 3). I
think an indie film on “online reputation” and the job market would be a good
thing, although my own script deals with that.
The official site (Millennium films) is here.
The film can be rented on YouTube for $2.99.
No comments:
Post a Comment