It doesn’t take much to anger people these days. In this socially connected world where everyone feels entitled to pry into the lives of other people, it’s so easy to lose sight of the difference between the perception of truth and the actual truth.
John Denver Trending, by Arden Rod Condez, perfectly mirrors this ugly side of the present society–and so much more.
John Denver (Jansen Magpusao), a Grade 8 student from Antique falls victim to the prevalence of online bullying after a video of him assaulting a classmate goes viral.
What follows next is a series of events that unmasks the society John Denver is in. Mainly driven by disdain, John Denver becomes the subject of unjust prosecution which traumatizes the boy, much to the agony of his mother, Marites (Meryll Soriano), who tries everything in her power to find a resolution and clear her son’s name along the way.
But things have already been set in motion and, despite attempts to find the truth, things only get worse for the young student. While not entirely a saint, John Denver, to us audience, doesn’t deserve the treatment he’s been getting from his classmates, the faculty, police authorities, and the community in general. This is why it’s very painful to watch.
As the injustice unfolds right before our eyes, one can’t help but feel fury and sympathy towards the boy. It then makes you think about the kind of society we’ve become because these events speak so much to our own realities. We have, in some form or another, become witness to what scorn, neglect, and the lack of sympathy can do to someone.
Magpusao provides an impressive performance for a newcomer. He imbibes the nuances and behavior of a young boy who’s struggling to appear collected despite being scared shit while coming to terms with his present situation. Mostly straight-faced in the face of prosecution, his voice betrays his youthful fear.
Soriano served as an anchor to the young actor. Her grounded performance elicits strong emotions without going resorting to theatrics. You can feel her pain, anger, and impatience with the incompetence and lack of common sense from people who are supposed to know better, which is why watching becomes even harder.
What the movie does well is it doesn’t tell you what to feel; it shows you a piece of reality and lets you ponder its impact.
It’ll make you think about the things you value more: being right or doing right, being quick to judge or practising empathy, and saying something for the sake of validation or thinking twice before you take action.
A great movie that’s relevant to our times and, I think, a good compass of our own moral codes.
