“Sparky!”

From Profile.

In 2014, following the news that British teen girl ran away from home to join ISIS, London journalist, Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane) decides to write a story on the online recruiters that the terrorist organization uses.  Once she convinces her editor, Vick (Christine Adams), to let her move forward with the story, Amy creates a fake Facebook account where she poses as Melody a young, recent convert to Islam.  Shortly after creating the account and liking several terrorist-created posts, Amy receives a friend request from a recruiter named Bilel (Shazad Latif), who quickly pushes to have the conversation held over Skype.  Amy sets up a Skype date and immediately begins using web articles and YouTube to learn how to present herself as both younger and a reserved Muslim woman.  Vick also has one of the techs, Lou (Amir Rahimzadeh), set up a screen capture program to record the calls without alerting Bilel.  When Amy and Bilel speak digitally face-to-face for the first time, Amy uses her research to create a relationship that she hopes will lead to information on the entire deadly organization.  As the days and communication carry on, Amy quickly finds herself drawn deeper into her cover and more distant from her real life, including her sister (Emma Carter) and boyfriend (Morgan Watkins).  With the deadline fast approaching and her relationship with the surprisingly funny and charismatic Bilel far exceeding what she expected, Amy finds herself drawn in deeper, despite Vick’s warnings.  As things in her life begin to crumble because of the choices she has made pursuing the story, Amy decides to risk everything and take the first physical step in meeting Bilel in Syria, but she quickly realizes that she might be in over her head.

Inspired by a true story, this movie is very interesting and from start to finish because it develops completely through a computer screen.  Even though the settings are fairly limited because of the movie’s format, it never feels stuffy or boring; instead, the style actually makes the movie that much more captivating and terrifying. While this thriller is mild for the majority of the film, the final portion of the movie will push viewers to the edge of their seats.  A must-watch, Profile is an unforgettable look at both the possibilities and dangers that social media and technology provide.

| Rated: R | Running Time: 105 minutes |Genre: thriller/biography|

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 5* of 10|Nudity: 1 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 2 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|