Yes, I know that the movie came out a few years ago, but last night, Dan and I watched Gone Baby Gone, one of many Boston crime dramas that, strangely, leave me unable to turn away. I am not the crime drama type of person (chick flicks are more my style), but whenever it involves the state I grew up in, I just can't resist it. The Departed, Boondock Saints, The Town, and now Gone Baby Gone...the Bostonians in those films have such a rawness and toughness to them, as well as a fierce sense of family. I remarked at one point during Gone Baby Gone, "Wow, Bostonians are TOUGH!". Anyway, the gist of the story is that Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play private detectives brought on to a missing child case. The child's mother (fabulously portrayed by Amy Ryan- why she did not win an Oscar for that performance, I have no idea) is the epitome of a negligent mother, lost in an underworld of drugs, sex and intimidation and entirely detatched from her four year-old daughter, Amanda.
**SPOILER ALERT*** While it appears that Amanda has died in a set-up, Patrick (Casey Affleck) is so haunted by the case that he stops at nothing to find out what really happened. It turns out that Amanda is alive, and has been living safely all along with a retired police captain (Morgan Freeman) whose own daughter was kidnapped and brutally murdered when she was twelve years old. Patrick, after agonizing over what he should do once discovering Amanda's whereabouts, decides to turn her over to the police and return her to her mother. This film raised a lot of questions for both Dan and I, the first being, what would you do in a situation like that? Would you turn a blind eye and condone kidnapping if it meant that the child would ultimately lead a happier life, or would you return her to her mother, where she is more than likely to be lost in the same heartbreaking cycle that her mother is in? We both said that we would probably ultimately have returned Amanda to her mother, because, as guilty as we would feel for inevitably subjecting her to a terrible life, we cannot justify kidnapping a child. However, this case is absolutely not black and white, so I could absolutely see arguing for the other side. Does anyone have any thoughts?
Above all, we both remarked at how lucky we are to have been raised by the parents that we were raised by, who provided us with a stable home environment and no shortage of love and support. There are so many children who do not have that advantage, and that is truly saddening. Watching movies like that really make me count my blessings. This was a real tearjerker, but I would highly recommend it.
An Enduring Hunger
10 years ago
