CAUGHT IN THE NET
Directed by: Barbora Chalupová., Vít Klusák
Starring: Sabina Dlouhá, Anezka Pithartová, Tereza Tezká
Two Documentarians seek to expose the sheer volume of online sexual abuse of young girls
Caught In The Net is an incredibly compelling film about a subject most people are unaware and ignorant of, and is grossly underestimated in its size.
Film-makers Barbora and Vit aim to cast three young-looking actresses to act as 12 year old girls. They are going to build three sets masquerading as their bedrooms, and record their interactions with people who approach them online to chat. Right off the bat, we start to see how bad a situation this is. The directors audition 23 actresses, 19 of whom had personal experience of interacting with and being groomed by online predators.
With the help of lawyers, psychologists and sex therapists, the team set some ground rules which will ensure that they cannot be accused of entrapment - the girls will never initiate contact, they will never make the first move and when asked to expose themselves or perform they resist and say they're too shy. At all times the girls are in a safe environment, with professionals on-hand to help them decompress and discuss their experiences.
The three actresses are superb, really delving into their young personas. They must have had nerves of steel to remain in character because its not long before they are entering into skype chats with guys masturbating while talking to them, asking them to take off their clothes. This particular version of the film pixelates the offensive material but apparently there is a stronger version out there (as well as a more heavily edited version for schools). What becomes clear is that these adults are purely using these girls for their own pleasure and have no concern at all as to how their behaviour might affect a young girl.
The next stage of the project is to provide the predators with a taste of what they want - nude phots of the girls to see what they do with them. Even though the actresses are over 18 they use a body double for the photos then add their faces. Even so, what happens next greatly affects them.
At least two of the girls are blackmailed when the guys get hold of their photos, threatening to publish them online if they didn’t do what they wanted. In fact one of them goes through with it and publishes the nudes online on a social media site. This is a situation which is all too common and you can see that its an incredibly harrowing, emotional situation to be in for the actresses regardless of their detachment and regardless that the photos aren't really of them. The line between the actresses and their young characters have been irrevocably blurred by this point.
The next stage of the project is the most tricky for the actresses and the film-crew: to actually meet some of these people who want to have sex with them as minors. Again the film-makers go to great lengths to provide a safe (public) environment with lots of cameras capturing the conversation. This is compelling to watch in and of itself but it also brings a level of catharsis when one of the girls, whose photos were published online, confronts her abuser, getting more and more angry and making him look incredibly pathetic as a result.
In the final section of the film, the directors break one of the major rules of making a documentary - don't become subjects in your own movie. However it is easy to see why they do this. One of the people the actresses meet online calls himself "Lord of the North", and during initial conversations, the film's makeup artist realises that she actually knows him and that his work puts him in contact with a lot of children. Th situation is too close to home to ignore. It’s a powerful moment as they confront him with his behaviour.
THE VERDICT
Film-makers Barbora and Vit have made a very sensitive film about a very difficult subject. The statistics are horrifying - during a ten day period the three actresses' personas were approached by over tow thousand men seeking some form of sexual interaction with an underage girl. The film-makers approached this in a very responsible manner and ensure the viewer understands that the actresses are always safe and are provided with all the help and support they need during the project and that some footage was passed to the police to undertake criminal investigations. Even so, I think the film-makers were surprised with the direction their film ended up taking, with their own interaction with Lord of the North.
This is a must-watch, even at its most harrowing.