Netflix's Filipino horror film, Untold, is about Vivian Vera, a passionate journalist whose life revolved around collecting sensational exclusives to make the front page. After years of chasing stories and breaking news, Vivian had made a name for herself at her network, Untold. Her mother was proud of her accomplishments; after the untimely death of her husband, also a journalist, Monica encouraged her daughter to follow in her father's footsteps. Vivian was living her dream, but suddenly her life took a dramatic turn when a man she had put behind bars was released after three years in prison. Ernesto Malugay was one of the four men arrested in the Cement Massacre, and Vivian's investigation was used as evidence in the case.
After the investigation aired, she became a media sensation and was hailed as one of the best journalists in the business. But Vivian had hidden secrets, and it soon became impossible to hide her dark past. Shortly after Ernesto Malugay's release was announced, Vivian began seeing spirits around her and having vivid nightmares. Her life turned upside down when she crossed paths with a woman who had given her a spirit bracelet. Vivian didn't want to wear it, but the woman insisted; she seemed to know Vivian was having terrifying nightmares. She promised that the bracelet would help her see spirits more clearly (we later learn that the woman was the mother of one of the Cement Massacre victims). Vivian tried to stop her, but she was already gone.
Director: Roderick Cabrido
Writers: Roderick Cabrido, Roselle Y. Monteverde, Noreen Capili
Stars: Jodi Sta. Maria, Joem Bascon, Juan Karlos Labajo
From the moment Vivian put on the bracelet, she began seeing spirits almost everywhere. She would often zone out, and her mind would travel to a completely dark world where spirits would attack and torment her. Her visions affected her daily life; it gradually became clear to those around her that she was not cool. The spirits she saw around her were mostly covered in cement and mud—she was a bit nervous. It was obvious that her visions were related to the Cement Massacre and an undisclosed truth she had been hiding from the world. The recurring image of a black cat also clouded Vivian's mind, and she was horrified to see it on her desk. She recognized the cat and named it "Kitty Marie," and little by little we discovered the connection between the two.
As a young journalist, Vivian had struggled to make ends meet. She hadn't yet been offered a permanent position at Untold and didn't have the money to cover her mother's tumor surgery. When she heard that the network was planning to offer the permanent position to her colleague Elaine, she felt tremendous envy. Her boss, Sylvia, didn't believe Vivian could contribute new ideas and was determined to prove her wrong. When Elaine told her she was planning to expose a restaurant that apparently used cat meat, Vivian felt the urge to imitate her.
She had no new ideas, and despair overcame her. When she suddenly saw her neighbor's black cat approaching, she interpreted it as a sign to take charge of her life. Vivian decided to dismember Kitty Marie and prepare a dish in front of the camera. She edited her face from the video and, using tactics, placed the camera near a pot to make it look authentic. Vivian no longer cared about what was right or wrong; she needed a sensational scoop to get a steady job, and she was willing to do anything for it. Sylvia was impressed by Vivian's video and decided to offer her the job instead of Elaine. Vivian was eventually able to get a loan, and her mother's surgery was a success. Although her neighbor accused her of stealing his cat, Vivian denied the girl's accusation and tried to forget the heinous act she had committed.
When Elaine discovered that Vivian had covered the same story she'd discussed with her, she knew the video wasn't authentic. When she confronted her and accused her of stealing her ideas, she simply apologized and told her she had to do it for her mother. Elaine threatened to expose her; she told her that either Vivian confessed the truth to Sylvia or she would make sure her boss knew the video was fake. Vivian begged her not to, so Elaine threatened to write a story about the Untold reporter, which was a complete fake. She'd already found the unedited footage on Vivian's phone, and she just needed to post it online.
Vivian tried to wrestle the phone away from Elaine, but she held on tightly. They got into a fight; Vivian ended up pushing Elaine onto the busy street, and she ended up under a bus, dying instantly. Benjie, Vivian's best friend at the time, witnessed the entire incident. He had been Vivian's greatest supporter; he loved and admired her, but little by little, his respect for her began to fade. Benjie knew that Vivian had butchered a cat to get a job; he had also seen her pressure Elaine and knew that Vivian was partially responsible for her death, but he wasn't willing to give up on her. Benjie loved Vivian and hoped to build a future together. So, whenever Vivian asked for his help, he couldn't refuse her. But the Cement Massacre changed him completely. It was then that he decided he couldn't forgive Vivian and decided to take a job in the Untold archives to stay away from her.
Meanwhile, a young journalist, Louise, had begun investigating the archive and discovered that Vivian had butchered a cat to gain fame. She exposed Vivian, and Sylvia confronted her. Vivian's visions had gotten out of hand, and she inadvertently ended up telling Louise and Sylvia about the entire incident. Sylvia suspended her and asked Louise to take her place. We also learned that Benjie had also been seeing ghosts. He became extremely frustrated and ended up stabbing himself in the eye, resulting in his immediate death. Benjie was behind the camera when Vivian reported on the Cement Massacre, and clearly the guilt of having been part of something he regretted was making him feel terrible.
After Ernesto Malugay was released from prison, Sylvia asked Vivian to interview him. Before appearing on camera, a woman named Amanda insisted that Vivian force Ernesto to confess to his crime. But since he had already been acquitted, Vivian thought it was a lost cause. But Amanda reminded her that she had been a witness to the case and, if she wanted, she could ensure justice was served. She also stated that her mother, Teresa, one of the victims of the massacre, had visited her and told her that Vivian knew Ernesto was a murderer. Sinisterly, she informed Vivian that her mother would also visit her. When Vivian spoke with Ernesto, she realized that he, too, had been having terrifying visions and was convinced he would be killed like the other three culprits. Ernesto reminded Vivian that she, too, would have to pay a price for her silence, as she had profited from the victims' misery. Amanda ended up shooting Ernesto during the interview and was arrested.
Later, when Vivian spoke with her in prison, we discovered that Amanda was responsible for the massacre. Ernesto and his men had paid her to convince people in her community, the informal settlers, to secretly negotiate with the Cateland Development men. She had no idea that her mother was also part of the group representing the settlers in the negotiation, and she blamed herself for killing her. He told Vivian that Teresa was no ordinary woman; she was deeply spiritual, and that her curse had had a severe effect on those who participated in the massacre. Amanda knew she would have to die to pay for the mistake she had made. Vivian watched Amanda repeatedly hit herself in the head, until she bled to death.
During the Untold finale, we discovered how Vivian's lack of morals was the reason she began seeing ghosts. The casual encounter between Ernesto and Amanda before the Cement Massacre took place at Vivian's mother's restaurant. Vivian was helping her mother at the time when she overheard the conversation. She wrote down Ernesto's number and then sent him a message, pretending to be someone from Cateland Development, to check on Ernesto. She wanted to find out what his plan was, and Ernesto, without hesitation, wrote to her, telling her he was well aware that his mission was to kill the settlers. When he didn't get a response, Ernesto tried calling the number, but by then Vivian had already destroyed the SIM card. Vivian knew this revelation would propel her career, and she makes no apologies.
Benjie accompanied her to the Cateland Development construction site. He had already guessed that Vivian was up to something suspicious, but he didn't realize how serious it was. When he discovered that the settlers had been invited to be killed on the spot, he asked Vivian if she had informed the police. At first, she assured him that she had taken the necessary measures, but he soon discovered that she hadn't called the police. She feared that if the police arrived on the scene before Ernesto and his men attacked the settlers, she wouldn't have her sensational exposé. She wanted to be the only one to capture the atrocity, and she didn't care if the victims died as long as it made a good story. When Ernesto and his men shot the settlers, Benjie accused Vivian of having no moral conscience. He couldn't believe that she didn't feel guilty about what she did, considering that she could have easily saved the settlers' lives. Benjie left; He refused to participate in Vivian's madness any longer and, from then on, kept his distance. But Vivian felt no guilt or shame; she simply picked up the camera and resumed filming. She described the crime scene and took close-ups of the cement-covered bodies. The ghosts of the victims had been haunting the four men who murdered them, possibly because Teresa had placed a curse on them before they shot her.
Vivian and Benjie were also victims of the curse, having been at the crime scene. Since Teresa's ghost had already sought revenge on the men who murdered them, it was time for Benjie and Vivian to pay the price for their silence.
In the finale of Untold, Vivian's mother received a call from Vivian asking her to meet her at the Cateland Development construction site. Meanwhile, Vivian was convinced that Ernesto's ghost had kidnapped her mother and taken her to the construction site. Clearly, Teresa's ghost was playing tricks on Vivian's mind. When Vivian saw her mother at the construction site, she begged her to accompany her. But Monica asked her to prove she was really her daughter. It was then that Vivian confessed that she wasn't the honest journalist her mother believed her to be. She admitted her mistakes and was shocked when her mother asked her to jump off the building to atone for her sins. Vivian soon realized that the woman before her was not her mother, but Teresa's ghost. The bodies of all the victims merged to form a strange, gigantic creature that approached Vivian, and she ended up falling from the building. She was accompanied by a young journalist, Jasper, who tried to stop her from falling, but couldn't hold on for long, and she slipped. Vivian's mother, who had arrived at the scene, helplessly watched her daughter fall to the ground.
Did Vivian survive? Vivian had been hallucinating, and her memory was sketchy, but the conversation with her mother after losing her job seemed grounded in reality. Vivian's mother regretted creating a false heroic image of her husband, Gerald, because deep down, she knew it was the reason Vivian tried so hard to pursue a career in journalism. Monica told Vivian that her father wasn't a courageous journalist, but corrupt. He was on the payroll of politicians; he was paid by gamblers, and also by lumber companies. He had been virtually absent from their lives because he was married to someone else. She also revealed that Gerald didn't die in an accident but was murdered with an ice pick by a hitman. Vivian's father's gruesome death suggested that, in the end, everyone paid for their mistakes. Vivian always felt the need to live up to her father, only to realize that she was horribly flawed. She, too, had made several mistakes to create a false image of herself, and in the end, she had to pay the price. Perhaps her desperation to become a popular journalist was based on the promise she had made to her father. As a child, Vivian always believed that if she became a reporter, her father would never abandon her, so she promised herself that she would be exceptional.
The photograph of Vivian at the altar made us wonder if she had succumbed to her injuries after the fall, but we soon learned that Vivian survived. She had become a living ghost, devoid of emotion and passion. She watched as Louise took over her segment on Untold; the career she had pursued all her life was gone. Monica still spoke proudly of her daughter; she told customers at her restaurant that her daughter had taught the new reporter everything. She scolded her for putting her photograph at the altar. To her, her daughter was always a winner, and she assured her that she would be a star reporter again after her recovery. Vivian looked at her mother with a discouraged, hopeful look. She didn't have the strength to continue pursuing her dreams.
Comments
Post a Comment