Gone Baby Gone

Wow. This film blew me away. Gone Baby Gone is the brutal and fascinating story of a little girl who has gone missing. Was she kidnapped, murdered? Casey Affleck plays Patrick Kenzie, private investigator hired, along with his parter Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), to help out in any way they can: aiding the police, talking to shady people, using their contacts, etc. They work with (and butt heads with) the police assigned to the case, including Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. The story is multi-faceted and has incredible depth, but its hard to describe without giving too much away. The screenplay is based on the novel by Dennis Lahane, who also penned the epic Mystic River. That should be a clue as to the gravity of the themes and ideas put forth in the film.

This film makes its home in the gray areas of morality. Sometimes, the choices we make are very complicated and it is hard to tell what the right decision is. Patrick starts the film by asking "How do we get to heaven, while protecting ourselves from all the evil in the world?" Then he is reminded of Scripture, when Jesus told his disciples to be as innocent as doves, but as cunning as serpents (Mt. 10:16). Religious undertones are all over this film, which has echoes of Martin Scorsese. So what does it look like to be innocent, yet cunning?

Patrick Kenzie is a man of courage and strength. He is willing to give up everything in his life in order to do what he perceives is right. The funny thing is, the audience may or may not agree with his choices. Casey Affleck does a fine job pulling this complex character off.

Gone Baby Gone investigates the letter of the law. Should we always follow it? What about if it "feels" right to do something else. The choices are hard, very gray. It's also one of those movies in which you think its over too soon. "Well, that was pretty good." But then it goes on, and adds layer upon layer, and keeps you in rapt attention until the final scene.

At one point, Ed Harris' character (Remy Bressant) is having a heated discussion with Patrick. He says that everyone has to choose a side, either you are on the side of the child molester, or you aren't (he is talking about times in his career when he did some unethical things in order to get a good result). Bressant explains why he believes that the ends justify the means. They are also discussing murder. Patrick says "murder is murder." But Bressant believes that it depends on who you kill. Wouldn't it be better to rid the world of a child molester/killer who is already a repeat offender? No one wants a "monster" like that out on the streets, harming the ones we love. Then Patrick says: "My priest told me that guilt is God's way of telling us that what we have done is wrong." Is that true? Paul tells us "There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus." Isn't guilt a form of condemning ourselves? Maybe, but we need someone to tell us right and wrong, why not our conscience? Sometimes we need to feel conviction to turn us back around.

The main crux of the film is this question: "do people change?" Some say no, others are willing to give people another chance. Do child molesters change? Do bad parents change? Can traumatic events, loss of loved ones, prison, punishment, etc., change us to be better people? The answer is no. The only one that can truly change us and redeem us is Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

Ben Affleck's directorial debut is stunning. I hate most of his films (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Paycheck, Gigli, etc.), so maybe he belongs behind a camera. It is easy to approach this film with apprehension, but Affleck hits it out of the park. This is the best film of the year so far. Gone Baby Gone has depth, insight into the human condition, and is not afraid to dive headlong into gray areas that I had never even thought of. As with most great films, there are no easy answers, life is usually not that way. What a gut-wrenching, heart-pounding thriller with courage and power. God is all over the place in this one.