Chatroom

I came across a movie called Chatroom the other day. “Surprisingly”, it deals with a chatroom… The movie is not long, and it jumps right into the story from minute one. To summarize the film in a sentence or two, it is about a group of teens that meet in a chatroom, and get to know each other. However, very soon, we come to learn that all the teens in the new chatroom have secrets that they are hiding and maybe… oh my gosh, wait for it… ulterior motives!

Anyway, the film is a fast-paced thriller and an easy watch. I especially liked how they created an imaginary cyberspace with all the characters in it instead of filming everyone endlessly typing away on their computer. There are many cyber chat instances in the film that are portrayed in a very real and artistic way. The film has some obvious weaknesses that many others pointed out, such as the underdevelopment of about half of the characters that partake in the story. It also seems to stretch reality a bit too many times for my liking. The reason I decided to comment on this film however, is because I was reading my beloved GQ about two months ago. I don’t know how you call it when you first hear about something that you have never heard about before in your life, and ever since then it starts appearing everywhere you go. Well, that is what happened to me while I was reading an article in GQ that spoke about assisted suicide online, if you can call it that. I have never had any idea that something like this existed, but apparently, there are websites out there that serve as a place for suicidal people to come and either seek support or get advice on the best way to end life. It seems really creepy, but these are legitimate boards, which have a lot of visitors.

I guess like every board online, there is good and bad that comes from it. On the one hand, there is a big support system that helps some people who are struggling to cope. On the other hand, however, there is that other side. The side that GQ wrote about, and that Chatroom touched upon as well. That side consists of people that sort of get off on the act of talking someone into killing themself. Sometimes they even get to watch it happen, since many ask for moral support while taking their last journey and switch their webcam on to create the illusion of having someone there to help them through it.

GQ talked about a story of a man disguising himself as a young nurse that talked to troubled kids about the benefits of dying by hanging. This man is currently on trial, but, as the article points out, it does not seem like anything can really be done at the end of the day. First of all, talking to someone is not a crime, especially when it is done on the internet, where everyone lies and pretends. Secondly, these people made a choice to die, and if someone assisted them in providing helpful information in doing it the easiest way possible, on a website devised specifically for that purpose, well, it’s hard to find crime in that as well.

Nonetheless, it is very scary once you think about the situation and the poor youngsters that had the bad fortune of running into this “nurse” online instead of a person that could have maybe shined a light on their situation and talked them out of doing the irreversible. Chatroom is precisely about that. Maybe if I were to not read GQ before seeing this film, I would’ve thought it was highly improbable that someone could talk someone else into committing suicide online, and would’ve thought the movie went overboard on that storyline as well. However, I’m glad it didn’t go that way, because while there are very few teens that religiously read GQ, there are many more that might want to watch this film because of its good looking and young cast (with Kickass star Aaron Johnson as the lead), and who knows, maybe it'll save a cyber life or two.