FIREWALL (Movie Review)

I really get emotional everytime I watch a film that is about family. Family, really, is very important to all of us than anybody else. Our family is our first priority, and we will do all the things for it's betterment. We don't want to see any family member suffering. As much as we can, we will help him/her although we will risk our own life. We will conquer all the obstacles. We will endure all the pain. Just for the sake of our family. However, in our family's case, it's really opposite. Why? I will discuss it later.
The film Firewall is about a man whose family is in danger because of a person's greed for money. The protagonist Jack Stanfield use to have a contented life with a good job and a mirthful family. He is living happily with his loving wife Beth, and two children namely Sarah and Andy in a beautiful house. He is the Vice President of Security at Landrock Pacific Bank in downtown Seattle. Thus, he has everything that he could ever wish for.
However, his life changes because of a man named Bill Cox. Jack's family is being held hostage at their home by Cox's men. What Cox wants is to get $10,000 each from the bank's 10,000 largest depositors or $100 million total through Jack's cooperation. Jack's mind is in turmoil that time. He could not afford to do Cox's demand but his family's life is at stake. So, he decides to do what Cox tells him. Fortunately, he is able to get the money and send it to Cox's offshore accounts. When he returns home, Jack finds the house empty except for Liam, one of Cox's men that he then kills. Jack then searches his family through the help of his fired secretary Janet. At the end, he is able to outwit the antagonists and gets his family back.
Stanfield's family is really ideal especially it's head, the father, Jack. In the film, we can see he's tender love for his family. He could not afford to lose them. He does everything to save them although it means risking his own life. He even nearly died because of fighting with the enemies to save his wife and children. But, the good usually wins over evil. At the end, Jack becomes successful in getting his family back. That challenge in their life would make their family stronger. The walls of their home would become more impregnable that no one could ever destroyed it.
The film also reminds us that we should not easily trust a person, especially if he's a stranger. Like Bill Cox, who pretends to be a potential employer, but the truth is, he has a wicked plan for Jack and his family to attain his abominable goal. I really could not imagine why people could do to such evil things to their fellow people. We can choose to live a decorous life, why live that way? If money is the reason then we can get money in lots of right ways. However, this is a bitter reality that is remain unsolved.
After watching the film, I asked myself, “What if my father could watch the film? Would he realize that he has not been a good father to us for all these years? Would he change his self and be a commendable father to us finally?” However, I know, it would never happen. Our family is meant to be broken. The damaged has already been done and although the wounds would heal, the scars would remain forever.

ANTITRUST (Movie Review)

The world’s technology is continuously improving. Every year, new state-of-the-art devices and gadgets are invented or improved. One example of these is the computer. Computers have changed our lives since they were first introduced. Computers can do lots of things that are very helpful to mankind --- instant communication all over the world, storage of vast amounts of information, processing huge amounts of data, and many more. However, some people do evil things just to attain these technological advancements.
As what I can see in the film ANTITRUST, people tend to be greedy just to achieve their personal interests. Killing innocent people for the code? That’s absurd! However, in the film, that’s what the NURV (Never Underestimate Radical Vision) company is doing. The company is developing a product named Synapse, a worldwide media distribution network. To fully accomplish it, they kill programmers around the world and steal the code they need.
The film’s main character is Milo Hoffman, who is a computer genius. He works with his friends at their software development company which is just located at a garage. They call it Skullbocks. However, when he accepted the deal of NURV’s CEO to work in the company despite his friends’ objection, his life begins to change. He lost a friend and he was trapped in the middle of a conspiracy. The film somewhat imparts that people should not be too ambitious because it could pull us down. We should be contented on the simple things we have in hand. We should not be blind by money, by an ideal working environment, or by great opportunities because we don’t know what‘s really behind those things. We should not also be perceived easily by what we think good-natured people because we don’t know that they are just hiding in a mask. Like what happened to Hoffman in the film, even his girlfriend Alice Poulson is part of the conspiracy. Her real name is Rebecca Paul, an ex-con appointed by the company to maneuver him.
The film has a happy ending. Hoffman and his companions outwitted the NURV. They were able to broadcast to the world the hidden truth of NURV’s operation and the code of the Synapse. Synapse then becomes an open source code. People all over the world could already download it. It’s a very nice thing. People could use the benefits of the Synapse without even a cent to pay. That is the message of the film. It widens the public's awareness and knowledge level of the accessibility of open-source software. Advancements in technology should be shared to the people for free.