Gone Baby, Gone (Review)

Sorry Ben for ever doubting you.

Every couple years there is a missing woman/girl film. Spartan, Kiss the Girls, Silence of the Lambs and so on.

The films listed above are all pretty good, with Kiss the girls being the only “iffy” one listed. Is it that easy to make a missing girl film, or have filmmakers just been particularly effective in exploiting that device in recent decades?

A good question, especially seeing as now Ben Affleck has made a worthwhile entry as his debut directing effort. Scratch that. Not just worthwhile: Great.

A little girl is reported missing. Her name is Amanda MacReady and she is 4, she appears cute, innocent and photogenic – so her picture is all over the news, as is her mother Helene pleading for help. The local police are all over the case, lead by Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), who has lost a child of his own.

Helene’s brother Lionel and wife Bea are not as confident in the police’s ability to track down their beloved niece, so at the urging of Bea they contact a local finder of missing people to assist in the search, hoping that local knowledge will help.

Enter Patrick (Casey Affleck) & Angela (Michelle Monaghan), a young couple in their early 30s who use their local contacts and smarts to track down people – though not normally children. Angela is especially reluctant to take the case, fearing what a negative outcome might do psychologically with a 4 year old involved.

Bea however is quite persuasive and frankly desperate for help, so they decide to have a quick look at Amanda’s room and a quick chat with her Mum Helene before declining the job offer… and this is where we learn quite a deal more than we had to this point.

It turns out that away from the cameras and sympathetic faces that Helene is a very different person indeed – in short she is a pointless waste of inferior DNA: a drunk, drugged, ignorant, neglectful, judgmental slut who at times genuinely expresses a desire to be reunited with her daughter, only on her terms and if she doesn’t have to help out in any way.

Faced with this knowledge Patrick decides that Amanda deserves all the help she can get.

The Boston PD aren’t initially helpful – Jack Doyle actively warns the young couple away from the case and expresses real reluctance to provide the assistance and co-operation that they are entitled to as Missing Person Detectives – but once it is obvious that the two are “in” a meeting is arranged with the two lead detectives on the case, Remy (Ed Harris) and Nick (Beverly Hills Cop’s “Taggert” himself John Ashton). During the meeting once again it appears that Patrick is being mentally mocked by the more senior detectives… until he gives the detectives a breakthrough that he sourced through discussions with some, let’s say, “colourful locals’. The breakthrough information disputes an earlier account made by Helene, so they all head back to reopen questioning.

The ensuing investigation takes the now quasi-quartet deep into the seedy underbelly of the Boston area, along the way they encounter drug users and dealers, thugs and general low-lives – most disturbingly the trail seems to lead to some known paedophiles that reside in the area. While Patrick is more streetwise than his missus Angie and shows a steely resolve and unwavering conviction regardless of what he is faced with, Angie is apparently witnessing the real world for the first time at its lowest ebb, and it would be fair to say that she is gobsmacked and somewhat out of her depth.

There are red herrings, dead ends galore and new developments to be dealt with. Just when it seems that they are closing in on the truth something – or someone – new pops up out of the blue to provide further confusion. Because we as the audience are discovering along with the investigators there is genuine interest and at times surprise as the truth gradually unravels.

Without detailing all the twists and turns I must point out one scene in particular which takes Patrick and an acquaintance deep into the underground, after a tense Silence of the Lambs style standoff the conclusion of the scene triggers events that escalate proceedings towards the conclusion.

Despite my trepidation at seeing the name Ben Affleck on the poster, and the somewhat depressing subject matter, I love Gone Baby, Gone. The dialogue is gritty and realistic, the performances uniformly great, especially Ben’s little bro Casey, who as it is mentioned in the film does look incredibly young, but proves both as a character and an actor that impressions can be very deceiving. This young bloke already has a very impressive body of work on the CV, and without the matinee good looks seems destined for a fine career as a character actor or supporting player.

On first viewing a couple years back I immediately felt that this was an especially impressive film but I thought the plot took maybe one twist too many. A second exposure to the film uncovered a wrinkle I had earlier missed, with full understanding came an even greater appreciation.

I watched The Town recently and was once again impressed by Affleck’s script selection and direction, The Town is a fine film – but this film is a mile better than The Town. I truly believe that if Affleck used an alias on the poster this would have received even greater acclaim and might even be seen as the decade’s companion piece to Memento or Children of Men – Gone Baby, Gone is THAT good.

Final Rating – 9 / 10. A labyrinthine plot, excellent performances and uniform credibility across the board make Gone Baby, Gone one of the top films of the last decade. (And Phantoms was the BOMB Yo!)