Almost Real: Connecting in a Wired World

This National Film Board of Canada production seems to be made for people who've either never been on the Internet or don't know much about surfing the Web. It's oh-gosh/gee-whiz view of the more peculiar and extreme cases of living online makes it seem like a cyber-update of Mondo Cane, only without that celebrated shockumentary's cheerful vulgarity and shameless spirit. In fact, much of what is shown here is fairly old hat: finding love and even marriage via online flirting, children and adults withdrawing from genuine human interactions in favor of communications via keyboard and modem, online displays of anti-authority behavior (including a "rogue server" being operated by an appropriately cheeky cyberpunk), etc. Sci-fi writer William Gibson shows up to comment on the proceedings, but while his articulate voice is always welcome, in this case he's not saying anything new or newsworthy. Almost Real has a specific agenda to follow, focusing on how the Internet has drastically changed the way people interact. But the film fails to acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of people who use the Internet have vibrant offline lives and use the Web in an intelligent and positive manner. Of course, depicting people using the Internet to do mundane research, school projects, and engage in benign chatting wouldn't make the most interesting viewing and it would only disrupt the dull thesis of this forgettable documentary. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)