My opinions have vastly changed throughout
the 2010s, with film being no exception. There was a time where I consider Trust
to be my favorite film of 2011, placing it right above the likes of Take Shelter, Drive, and The Tree of Life. Those feelings have since
changed, with Trust no longer standing above these films. There was something about Trust that
profoundly affected me during the beginning of the decade that, upon
rewatching, has not been replicated nearing the end. Yet while I no longer see Trust as the
masterpiece of filmmaking I once considered it,
I do see it as a powerful film that explores how sexual predators work
within our modern technological society, as well as an examination of the
double standards found within American society.
Trust first released back in the
year 2010, when technology was blossoming into its newest phase, becoming a much
more integrated part of our daily communication. Chat rooms and texting were becoming more and
more popular and available to the teenage demographic, as were the growing dangers
found within them. The old-fashioned
warnings of stranger danger where parents biggest concern was some shady ice
cream truck owner abducting their kid (though, in reality, the biggest threats
to children came far more frequently from the people they knew) were becoming
less prominent to the increasing dangers presented in advancing technology.
Director David Schwimmer's goal with
Trust was to showcase just how dangerous these new situations could get,
and how sexual predators could work in a manner that parents may not expect. Schwimmer based the story on over fourteen
years of involvement with The Rape Foundation and several years of
research. As such, the predator
presented in the film Charlie (Chris Henry Coffey) is an amalgamation of the
"perfect" hunter. A monster
that knows and uses every trick in the book, because he's based on every trick
in the book. His target is fourteen-year-old
Annie Cameron (Liana Liberato), an insecure teenager just starting off in high
school. Charlie at first pretends to be
a sixteen-year-old high school student, barraging Annie with compliments
through an online chat room and then later through direct texting. He has a fully thought out backstory that impresses
Annie’s parents when they ask about him:
Brother: So, seriously, what's this guy's
deal?
Annie: Well, he's smart. And funny. His
brother's being recruited by UC Berkeley for football and that's where he wants
to go, but for volleyball.
Dad: What do his parents do?
Annie: His mom teaches kids with autism and
his dad works for ESPN.
After drawing Annie in, Charlie
slowly begins to bring her into his lies, starting with the "reveal"
that he's really twenty and a sophomore in college (even sending her fake
pictures of an attractive college student).
He claims to have lied because he didn't want to sound preachy giving
advice because he plays college volleyball.
This is the first red flag for Annie, yet she continues their
relationship, now playing a part in his lies by hiding his real age from her
parents. Annie's lifestyle is perfect
for Charlie to take full advantage of.
Her normal insecurities are only increased by the promiscuous nature of
the popular plastics that go to her school.
When she tries to talk to her dad about them, he's too busy to listen,
yet Charlie is there for her—even personally calling her. The lies continue when Charlie ages again to
be a twenty-five-year-old grad student before finally revealing himself to be a
man in his thirties. The reveal
understandably causes Annie to cry, yet the charismatic, manipulative Charlie
is able to make her stay and even flip the situation onto her:
Annie: Why do you keep lying to me?
Charlie: Because of this. I was, I was
afraid that you wouldn't be mature enough to understand. Annie, when you
connect with someone the way that we connected when you find a soul mate the way
that we found each other then nothing else matters. I thought you were old enough
to understand that. I mean, you made me think you could handle this, Annie. I
mean, this is ridiculous. I mean, it's me, Charlie. The same guy that you've
been talking to every day and every night for the last two months. I love you. Annie.
And I don't get why age has to change that.
The man is a master at his evil
craft, completing it with loads of flattery, taking her out for snacks,
teaching her the “secret Delta handshake” from his college. The two eventually go to a hotel, where an all
too realistically terrifying scene occurs where Charlie gets Annie to put on
some revealing lingerie and then has his way with her. Make no mistake, the scene is rape. The scene would be rape even if Annie was of
age. Charlie has successfully groomed
Annie, to the point where even if she doesn't want to have sex, she will to
make Charlie happy.
The scene is terrifying to watch,
with Coffey doing a frighteningly effective job portraying the predator,
staring at Annie perversely and gradually overwhelming her as she initially
pleads him to stop yet ultimately submits to his will. Annie’s actress Liana Liberato was around fifteen
at the time of making Trust.
Director Schwimmer wanted Annie to be played by an actual underaged
teenager; "there is a danger, if you cast someone who is eighteen, nineteen
or twenty to play fourteen or fifteen, that very subtly, almost unconsciously,
the audience is, 'Oh, this isn't so bad.'" Schwimmer is certainly right in his assumption,
and having someone who is and/or looks the age does make the scene and
situation all the more realistically frightening. At the same time, it's very uncomfortable
knowing an actual young teenager had to film such a disturbing scene with a full-grown
adult. The rape scene was filmed last to
ensure a safe environment for Liberto, yet I still have mixed feelings about the scene. Seeing a full-grown adult
pretend to lecherously look at, lustfully embrace, and then kiss a fifteen-year-old
so convincingly is...well it doesn't feel entirely right even if it's all
acting.
Whether right or wrong, the scene certainly
gets its terrifying point across. Charlie
immediately ceases all contact with Annie after getting what he wants. Fortunately, one of Annie's friends noticed
her and Charlie at the mall and—after seeing Annie acting zoned out—tells her
teachers who, in turn, tell the police.
The police quickly arrive and take her to treatment, though I must say,
the cops blatantly taking her right out the school’s front doors for all her classmates
to see is a really stupid and insensitive decision. The FBI is immediately on the case, trying
to have Annie contact Charlie for another meeting. Annie, however, has been successfully groomed
and becomes upset at them for trying to make her trick him—even noting how Charlie
is sweet and that her dad would like him.
Speaking of which, her father Will
(Clive Owen) is another important piece of the story. The film uses Will to effectively explore the
double standards of such an event. Will
is too engrossed at looking at his "failure to protect" Annie that he
ends up neglecting his daughter's very sensitive feelings and traumatic
experience—making the situation even worse. Will wants to be the hero, the John Wayne
cowboy saving Jodie Foster from the Big Bad Wolf. He dreams of buying a gun then torturing and
killing the man responsible. He begins
looking through the National Sex Offender Registry and becomes paranoid about
those on the list that live near him. He
has nightmares of the incident, imagining Annie struggling and screaming for
her dad to help as the man submits her to all his sick desires.
Will cannot understand the idea that
Annie quietly let Charlie have his way without a struggle—that she's been
groomed and actually views him as someone who cares for her. He blatantly calls Charlie a monster to her
face, noting how he tricked her (implying that she fell for it like a fool),
and how he's going to kill Charlie. In
his mindset, such actions are the best course for making the situation better,
for ultimately redeeming himself as a protector. In reality, they are only making
things way worse. Will gets furious when
he sees all the promiscuous sentences Annie sent to Charlie through text, yet
not only did he neglect Annie when she personally came to discuss how the girls
at her school are doing the same thing, but he's completely fine with his son
interacting in similar ways (such as being proud that he owns Playboy magazines).
The true irony is that Will works
at a corporation that specializes in making promiscuous tween clothing
line. Earlier in the film, Will and his boss Al (Noah Emmerich)
joke around about getting with an, of age yet far-younger waitress. When Will reveals to Al about what happened
to Annie, his boss becomes relieved after hearing that the situation was
"consensual":
Will: It's Annie. She was sexually
assaulted.
Al: What? Oh, my God. I had no idea,
Will.
Will: She's fine. I mean, she wasn't, but
she's okay.
Al: They catch the guy?
Will: They're looking for him. They
started with the crime scene in the motel.
Al: Jesus. She was kidnapped?
Will: No, she—She sort of knew the guy.
Al: I—I don't understand.
Will: It was someone she met online someone
she'd been talking to for a while.
Al: Oh, I thought you meant she was like
attacked, you know. I—You scared the shit out of me.
Will: She was raped. She's 14. The guy's
in his 30s.
Al: I know, I know. It's just that I
was picturing—Well, you don't wanna know what I was picturing. Could have been much
worse.
It takes several very strongly-worded speeches from several characters such as Annie and her mom (Catherine Keener), for Will to
get it through his thick skull that he's been going about everything the
completely wrong way and to make a tearful apology to Annie for the way he's been behaving.
It’s Trust’s final
scene that leaves the audience with its most haunting impact as it's revealed
that Charlie is actually a high school physics teacher named Graham Weston—a
man that is happily married with a son and respected by his students. Graham never gets caught, a showcasing that
not all devils get their just deserts, nor do they all openly show their
horns. Trust is a powerful
cautionary tale about the dangers of modern sexual predators, for both parents
and children. The film also equally
explores the dangers of double standards that plague American society (and all
societies in general) and how such toxic nature can make already bad situations
even worse. The film urges children and teenagers to be more cautious towards
who they talk to and trust on the internet.
It urges parents to be more involved and their children’s lives, to
listen to them, and to try putting themselves in their kids’s shoes to better understand
them regardless of gender. Trust
may no longer be my favorite film of 2011, but it is still a powerful,
important piece of work.
Boring and unrealistic movie
ReplyDeleteWhy bever take a pic of the guy?
Why dont check the mall cammeras to see who is him?
So if I go to FBI headquarters and steal fedral documents they dont punish me?
After some weeks the DNA of the guy was still on her?
Why father looks like a perv too sneaking her and imagine her nude?
To be honest this movie is nasty with a jealousy father thinking that way if his own daughter
Boring and unrealistic movie
ReplyDeleteWhy never take a pic of the guy?
Why dont check the mall cammeras to see who is him?
So if I go to FBI headquarters and steal fedral documents they dont punish me?
After some weeks the DNA of the guy was still on her?
Why father looks like a perv too sneaking her and imagine her nude?
To be honest this movie is nasty with a jealousy father thinking that way if his own daughter
Boring and unrealistic movie
ReplyDeleteWhy never take a pic of the guy with their phone?
Why never ask them for a facial composite of him?
Why dont check the mall cammeras to see who is him?
So if I go to FBI headquarters and steal fedral documents they dont punish me?
After some weeks the DNA of the guy was still on her?
Why father looks like a perv too sneaking her and imagine her nude?
To be honest this movie is nasty with a jealousy father thinking that way if his own daughter