After finally accumulating points in my member's card in one of the moviehouses in Shinjuku, Tokyo (named Picadilly), I was able to watch a movie for free! It's entitled DARE MO MAMOTTE KURENAI (Nobody to Watch Over Me).
It's about a 15-year-old girl who had to be protected from the swarm of mediamen and curious internet bloggers and posters just because her 18-year-old brother was arrested for the murder of two children. A detective -- whose failure to prevent a suspected killer brought the death of a 3-year-old boy -- was assigned to do the task. The girl, from that day on, became prey to the biases that Japanese society has for families of criminals... even in the virtual world.
It really is a pity that present society has taken on technology as a means to put down others. Blogs, bulletin boards and websites have become fora for a lot of young people to virtually "kill" or even lead the possibility to the actual deaths of certain people. Years ago, a 6th grade girl stabbed her classmate to death for posting some insulting remarks in her blog. Group suicides have been done because they met in such "suicide forum" sites. My former student quit school just because she was honest with her feelings with some of her classmates and they virtually ganged up on her in a bulletin board site, wishing her dead or out of school. I, myself, was a victim of this. I found remarks telling me to die just because I was strict with them at class. I later on confronted my students about this, telling them that posting remarks like that in the internet under fictitious names and anonymous handles is a blatant show of cowardice. A true person speaks his mind -- personally!... not through some virtual grafitti.
Priests in Japan are not as tech-savvy in the way they conduct their apostolate. No wonder people get impressed just by a simple powerpoint presentation in my catechism lesson or seminar. It really is a challenge for us, here, to show to the faithful that technology advances for the sake of good, not evil... to unite hearts, not to sow division. Of course, the reality is that there is so much evil in mass media. But it does not mean we will just give up on it.
By the way, the British all-boys-choir LIBERA sang the theme song for this movie. Just click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwDRZMoJtkk. Interestingly, the song seems to be for the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the staff of the movie did not really study the lyrics well, even if the composer of the music is a Japanese. Anyway, personally, it's a song filled with so much meaning... yes, the Blessed Mother will always be there to protect us all from any evil -- no matter how virtual it may be!
Here's a review link from The Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20090130a1.html
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