Not so long ago, a 13-year old boy killed
his boyfriend then killed himself inside a mall. The video was uploaded on
popular social media and became viral. This became a sort of crusade for indie
film director Joselito Altarejos who promised himself he would do something
about it to show people how this new technology has so affected our lives, both
in a negative and a positive way.
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| Photo courtesy of Solar Entertainment Corp. |
Now, Director
Altarejos film Unfriend, which took the Berlin film festival by storm, takes
viewers on a nightmarish journey with the film’s principal character David,
jilted by his lover just before Christmas, to turn to the screens of his mobile
phone, iPad and computer in a desperate attempt to extend his affair with his
17-year old love, Jonathan. Altarejos masterfully relates a gay teenager’s
heartbreak and obsession with the social media and makes for a grappling tale
of how the Internet can drive fragile minds into a dangerous world. As David’s
phone calls, text messages and Skype calls go unanswered, he becomes more and
more detached from reality and wanders through the crowds and chaos of Manila
with a fatal plan forming in his head.
The film
Unfriend vividly portrays life in the Philippines, where poverty forces
millions to work abroad, and cheap phones and free WiFi make social media
all-pervasive. It has a universal message in showing the perils that the ready
availability of unfiltered information online can hold for young people-putting
them in touch with shady characters and online materials instructing them how
to commit suicide, assemble bombs or commit crimes, and an infinite variety of
self-destructive topics.
Unfriend boasts of a mixture of veteran and
upcoming actors in the persons of Ms. Boots Anson Roa, Sandino Martin and
Angelo Ilagan. It is distributed by Solar Entertainment Corporation.
Showing on February 26, 2014 at your favorite theaters. – EMY ABUAN
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