A Review of Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, Fresh in the Mind After Viewing of the Film, Focusing on the Thematic Elements of what Makes it Work.
The Story
Little Amanda is abducted. The police have found nothing. The girl’s aunt hires local private investigators to look into things because one of them is from the neighborhood. Such is the beginning of Gone Baby Gone, Director Ben Affleck’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel.
Casey Affleck plays Kenzie, the local PI, who agrees to help together with his partner Angie (Michelle Monaghan). They talk to the mother Helene (Amy Ryan) who sits at home in squalor. She’s a concerned mother who drinks five days a week and does, according to her brother Lionel (Titus Welliver), “A little coke.” Kenzie asks, “What’s a little?” Lionel replies, “Maybe three days a week?”
On the scene comes Captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman), a crusader for missing children who has suffered his own tragedy. While not pleased by the investigators, he cooperates. He assigns Remy (Ed Harris) and Nick (John Ashton) to observe.
We find Helene has lied about where she was during the abduction. When the investigators go to Helene’s local haunt they are bullied by people who are reluctant to speak to cops, let alone anyone else.
Kenzie knows the area and people, and when he goes to Helene's hangout with Amanda, he sees an old friend who is happy to tell him more about Helene and what she does. Everything is smooth until the loyal and mistrusting patrons lock the door, and Lenny (Brian Scannell) says things with his mouth to Kenzie and eyes towards Angie. The investigator brandishes his gun. Lenny, sizing up the diminuitive Kenzie and brushing him off, acts lascivious towards Angie, which gets him a pistol whip to the head.
The scene is gritty, ugly, and opens us up to who Kenzie is; a man of action who knows how these tough streets operate. He had plenty of opportunity to dive into crime and violence, but chose another path. Kenzie is calm and calculated, prefering to use his wits, but when he runs out of options, he will not hesitate to go to a darker path.
What It's About
Gone Baby Gone is fueled by moral ambiguity. Characters drive some films, story others, but choice drives this one. It is perhaps a post-modernistic view, but what is post-modernism? We make our own choices, and have a say in everything we do. Remy tells Kenzie he planted evidence on a bad father to get him off the streets, and he believes what he did was right, absolutely. The fact remains; the detective was wrong according to the law.
Ultimately, you will formulate your own opinion as to whether the “right thing” is correct, or going “by the book” is. This film gives you plenty of chances to form your own opinion.
Helene reveals she ripped off a drug dealer with her boyfriend. It is assumed the dealer has the girl. An exchange goes wrong; the girl is assumed dead. Life goes on, sort of. Another child disappears. Kenzie gets a bead on a pedophile, an early suspect in the Amanda case. He goes first with a coke dealer who is his friend, then back with Remy and Nick. He makes a choice. He is congratulated and lauded but feels no satisfaction, because what he does, while “right”, is anything but.
The Bottom Line
This is a simple story with brilliant, calculated twists. Nothing pulls the wool over your eyes. You figure it out when you should, and because the characters (save Kenzie) believe that everything they do is correct, they expect you to as well
The film’s flaw is Angie. Monaghan does what she can, but her character is underdeveloped - at best, she serves as a featherweight sidekick for Kenzie. Her character feels throwaway in a movie that throws nothing away. Still, Monaghan has beautiful expressive eyes, which is almost all of the acting she is allowed here.
Gone Baby Gone makes the viewers ask themselves what is right? What is wrong? What is your perception? It is subtle, understated, and excellent.
All character/actor names referenced via IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452623/fullcredits - cast
