The Reality of “TRUST”

I had the honor of being asked by Millennium Entertainment to a screening of the upcoming movie “TRUST”, directed by David Schwimmer, and starring Clive Owens and Catherine Keener.  As the credits rolled at the end, I was left with a host of emotions from pain to sadness and with re-ignited memories of the Internet predators I had prosecuted as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice and the young girls whose lives they had destroyed forever.

And as I left the screening room, I kept thinking how much “TRUST” is true to life in the digital century and how much we as parents might not realize the truth about Internet predators.   We call them ‘Internet’ predators, but in fact, they are actual human beings intent on attacking a child in the real world.  The movie focuses carefully on the ‘grooming’ process where a predator meets an unsuspecting teenager online and slowly begins a friendship designed to break down her natural barriers and eventually grooms her into believing that she is truly in love with this person who is really not who he claims to be.

What was most telling about the thoughtful analysis that went into this movie is the fact that ‘Annie’ the 14-year-old victim was experiencing a series of events that put her at risk and, thus, at the mercy of a predator.  Her father was busy at work, her brother whom she had a special bond with was going away to college, her desire to be with a certain crowd wasn’t happening, and she was desperate to make it onto the volleyball team.  In fact, a child at risk in the physical world becomes at risk online.  Annie was such a child.  And, in essence, we saw how a perfect family with amazingly loving parents could fall prey to a predator, for when Annie was traumatized, so too was her family.

So, as a society we all need to know that this can happen to any of our families and we must work together to help our kids navigate safely in the digital world just like we have in the physical world for so many years.

I will talk about just what those calls to action are next time.  In the meantime, trust me, when I say that “TRUST” is true to life in the digital century.

Visit the official TRUST blog site where this blog is also posted.