I don't usually give a lot away about the movies I watch, but I will on this one because it is just that important.
If you have young girls or even young boys, you should consider watching this film with your child. It is the story of a young girl victimized by a predator from the internet.
The movie is about a 14 year old girl Annie who is groomed, lured and eventually raped by on online sexual predator "Charlie". A friend at school tells a counselor what happens; the counselor calls the police, who call the family and FBI.
Annie thinks she is very special and this guy loves her, she doesn't see what has happened to her as a rape. Even though the man initially made her think he was the same age as her, then tells her he is 20 and a college sophomore, then 25, and when they eventually meet I think he tells her he is 35. He uses lines such as I wanted to make sure you were mature enough to handle it. Charlie was good at what he does.
Finally when the FBI brings her pictures of four other girls who have been raped by Charlie, she realizes she isn't as special as "Charlie" has led her to believe. All four of the girls look very much like her and one of them was only twelve.
The film addresses the different things that happen to the family after the event such as the fathers rage and desire for revenge, Annie dealing with her friends at school, and at one point an attempted suicide.
This wasn't a story about a dysfunctional family, or a neglected child. It was a regular happy family, normal well adjusted kids with parents thinking they were watching over what she did on the internet. Annie is still lured in. She willing went and met this man when her parents were out of town.
The movie is Rated R - Disturbing material involving the rape of a teen, language, sexual content and some violence. There are additional scenes of the father imagining the rape.
The Common Sense rating - Iffy for 15+.
I have to wonder about the common sense rating since in the movie it is mentioned that a twelve year old is raped. Because of the content I get the iffy 15+ but I wonder at what age do you present this to your child? I guess each parent can judge for themselves what their child can handle, which is why I thought it important to elaborate on this movie. The movie is very tactfully presented; it just has the rape scenes and the fathers' imagination of the rape which were worse than the actual rape I think.
If you have younger teens this may be one of those films you should watch first and prepare for the discussion before showing your teen/pre-teen.
I must say in this day and age, I am glad my child is grown and I don't have to worry about the internet predators. The thought of all of it on one hand is quit disgusting, while on the other hand, you know you can't ignore the topic.
"Trust" is certainly an appropriate title for this movie. How much trust do you give your children?
I can imagine the difficulty of trying to determine when and if to give your child a phone and/or internet access, they do have benefits but then there are the drawbacks.
This is a very well told story. I didn't see anywhere that it is based on a real life story, but I would think it is based on one if not one the combination of several. I give it five stars.
The cast includes: Liana Liberato, Clive Owen, Viola Davis, Jason Clarke, Catherine Keener, Noah Emmerich, Brandon Molale, Nicole Forester, Noah Crawford, and Chris Henry Coffey.
Parents of children with cell phones may also find this post interesting and/or helpful. Smart Phone Users Putting Kids At Risk With Geotagging.
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