Gone Baby Gone - Bravo Ben!

GONE BABY GONE

Year: 2007.

Country: USA.

Directed by: Ben Affleck.

Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris and others.

Runtime: 1 hr 55 min approx.

Everyone wants the truth... until they find it.

In retrospect, ‘Gone Baby Gone’ could have easily become one of those action packed and intriguing dime a dozen crime thrillers centered on a hostage situation. It has all the ingredients: missing child, an amateur detective troupe and a run down Boston suburb that forms an all too perfect backdrop. Ben Affleck and crew decided to take the movie down the road it was intended to. And thank goodness for that.

When 4 year old Amanda McCready is kidnapped, it transpires into quite a public event in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Unsatisfied with police efforts, Amanda’s aunt and uncle, Lionel and Bea hire boyfriend-girlfriend pair of private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro to find their niece. What follows is a tale of their professional and personal revelations and the choices that they are required to make. Based, albeit with modifications, on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane.

As a purely personal opinion, I’d attribute the movie’s success to the fact that it works on so many different levels and doesn’t disappoint on any of them. On the surface, it comes across as an investigative thriller, with people passionately trying to locate a kid. Further down, it strikes as a narrative on a lot from things, ranging from pedophilia, to drugs to lack of parental care. And by the time you’re done with the movie, you’ll be left debating about the morality behind a lot of choices and a lot of decisions. All signs of a good movie. ‘Gone Baby Gone’ is a lot of things… and boring is not one of them.

Deviating from the norm, I’d first like to point out the splendid supporting cast that the movie employs. While Morgan Freeman does his usual venerable character role as Capt. Jack Doyle, Ed Harris as Dept. Remy Bressant is the real trump card. With almost as much screen time as the principal cast, Harris shines in almost every frame. As for the lead, Casey Affleck is just about right as Patrick Kenzie, sinking his teeth into the role. Disappointments for me come in the form of Michelle Monaghan’s Angie, who does nothing, spare one scene, to merit her as being a private investigator. Amy Ryan as Helene, Amanda’s mom, is slightly irksome at the beginning but comes to form as the movie progresses.

Ben Affleck has proved that direction is one of his fortes with this endeavor. Though it is easy when one has starting material, making it click is a whole new cup of tea. Cinematography and screenplay-wise, the movie perfectly complements the mood of the story. No racy gimmicks, or flashy screenplay. With the exception of a flashback, the screenplay is as straightforward as it can be. The movie does have its fair share of twists, thrills and its ‘wow-I-didn’t-expect-that’ moments. The film does have them, but chooses to depict them in a less aggressive manner.

Though the movie beings on one note, starts shifting focus ever so carefully, and ends on a totally different one, you are left thinking on a totally different perspective. Something that you’d have never imagined when the movie first began. ‘Gone Baby Gone’ surprises you, and leaves you with a moral dilemma similar to what its characters face. And in that aspect, few movies come close. A must watch.