Gone baby gone - Review

Gone baby gone is not a new movie. It was released in 2007. Am surprised how I did not hear much about it. It was a matter of chance that I happened to see this movie, full of commendable performances, last night.

The film revolves around the kidnapping of a 3 yr old girl in the shady parts of Boston. It goes on touching issues of kidnapping, drug-dealing and abuse of children - all the ingredients of a social rather crime awareness movie. The story is something that can happen to anyone, yet is something you wish does not happen to anyone.

The protagonist (Casey Affleck) is a private detective living with his work-partner in our shady suburb. He is hired by the family of the missing kid to find her. Now one might ask why he and not the strong police is the protagonist in the movie. Well our guy happens to be brought up in the community and is just the right kind of person with contacts within the world down under, possible where our missing kid is. At times the viewer is definite to be thrilled with how a simple looking person like our man can go on and threaten all those biggies of the underworld. But it's carried in the movie in a convincing way.

Although I don't want to spoil your own experience if you ever watch the movie, am tempted to discuss about the ending. The climax puts you, the audience, in the midst of a question - is everything you think is right, really right? When you look back and see do you really think abiding by the rules of law was the right thing to do? What would you do if you had a chance to change a person's life by compromising on what you believe to be right?

Some of the scenes in the movie are haunting. They force you to come face to face with the horrible things we do to our children and family. At one point of the movie, the story makes you feel that you have reached the end , but suddenly it shifts by 180 degrees - a characteristic of a perfect mystery! The movie is like a page turner book, it makes you sit at the edge of your seat. Few references in the story reminded me of Mystic River. Only when I read the details of the movie on wiki did I realize why, after all they have a common author.

When the titles played on the screen I told myself, “Ben Affleck probably made this movie just to give his brother Casey a much needed big break after his small roles all these years”. But after 2 hours I could not stop admiring Ben for his directorial talent. The movie also has big names like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, who as usual deliver brilliantly however small a role one gives them. And Casey, well, I’m surprised we are not seeing much of him these days. He is definitely a gifted actor. I hope I get to see more of him.