|
 Director Joselito Altarejos takes viewers on a nightmarish
journey with the film's hero David, who is jilted by his lover
just before Christmas, and turns to the screens of his mobile
phone, iPad and computer in a desperate attempt to prolong his
connection to the 17-year-old Jonathan.
As his phone calls, text messages and Skype calls go unanswered,
David becomes more and more detached from reality, and meanders
through the crowds and chaos of Manila with a fatal plan forming
in his head.
Altarejos based his film on the 2011 shootings in a Filipino
shopping mall of two young male lovers, amateur footage of which
later surfaced online and went viral.
"A 13-year-old boy killed his boyfriend and killed himself
inside a mall. The video was uploaded on Facebook. I promised
myself I would do something about it. I would show people how
social media has changed the way we live our lives, how we have
become performers, and how social media has also made us voyeurs
and exhibitionists," Altarejos told Reuters.
The film has a universal message in showing the dangers that the
unfiltered information available online can hold for teenagers — putting them in touch with shady individuals, or informing them
how to handle a firearm, for example.
"For young people to have the power to get everything is very
dangerous," Altarejos added.
"Unfriend" vividly portrays life in the Philippines, where
poverty forces millions to work abroad, and cheap phones and
free Wi-Fi make social media all-pervasive.
[to top of second column] |
 David lives with his grandmother, a kind but
distracted woman, immersed in her Catholic faith. Although they can
sing karaoke songs together and share tender moments, the generation
gap is vast. David's parents work abroad — compounding his
loneliness. Only once do social media become a benign force in the
film as it allows David to Skype his mother.
"Most Filipinos have to go out of the country to
find work...It is ironic that you want to give your family a better
life but at the same time you detach yourself from your family,"
said Altarejos, whose mother was a maid in the Middle East.
The film shows a world where phones are sold at markets, people buy
tiny amounts of phone credit from street stalls and kids bury
themselves in shabby Internet cafe booths.
"Wi-Fi is everywhere and free. Some kids skip lunch to buy credits
for their phones," said Altarejos.
Sandino Martin, the 21-year-old who plays David, consulted a
psychiatrist for help on how to portray his character's fragile
state, and spent time at a high school to see how 15-year-olds used
the Internet. What he saw shocked him.
"I got scared when I went back because I felt that 'wow' there is a
big change and I don't think in a good way. On the Internet
everything is within reach ...it gave me chills."
"I tried searching suicide videos — some of them got
1 million
views! It is just out there and you can watch it free."
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson;
editing
by Stephen Powell)
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