Gone Baby Gone

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2008)

One of the problems with the film industry is the oft unavoidable delay between inception and release. Whether it be an overlong production, or some outside influence or controversy, the gods of fate will all too often cause a film dealing with or alluding to a current event, to be released after said event has ceased to be current. Such is the case with actor Ben Affleck's directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, whose plot bears striking similarities to the case of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, who was abducted just last year.
This parallel, still fresh in the media memory, is bound to bring just as much publicity as the director, who until 2006s Hollywoodland, had made a career on decidedly lowbrow roles. So it would makes sense that, following one of his few serious roles in the aforementioned film, Affleck would turn his attention to helming a just as serious piece.
And serious it is. Gone Baby Gone, with its urban setting and seedy themes, could easily be described as noir. But absent are the expressionist shadows, fast-talking private eyes, and veiled allusions to unsavoury criminal activity. Instead we have the rundown neighbourhood of Dorchester, Boston. As private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angela Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) scour the community for clues as to the whereabouts of kidnapped four-year-old Amanda McCready, the neighbourhood almost becomes a character in its own right. As shots of neighbours gathered on doorsteps and children playing in the streets contrast with darkly-lit discussions of drugs and child abuse, we really get a sense for the living dichotomy of the neighbourhoods we so often see on the evening news.
Neither does the film shy away from the question that always threatened, but never surfaced during the already mentioned McCann case: how little chance is there of finding this little girl alive? As Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) tells the two investigators, if the child isn't found within twenty-four hours, only ten percent are ever recovered.
The film's performances perfectly capture this sense of hope, despair, and desperation. As can be expected from his recent Oscar nomination, the younger Affleck makes the role his own. The shy and awkward youngster who half-smiled his way through a myriad of uncomfortable silences in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is still there, but Casey moulds this persona into something tougher, but still hopeful and, in some ways, naïve. Freeman is obviously as professional as ever as the police captain in charge of the search. And Ed Harris delivers another reliably solid performance as a jaded police detective partnered with the private detectives.
But then there's Michelle Monaghan, something of a weak link. This is not a slight against her talent or ability; on the contrary, she is a fine actress, as is most readily observable in the unbelievably entertaining Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. No, the problem comes in the validity of the character. Gennaro has little to do throughout the vast majority of the film. When she is used, she acts as more of a conscience for Kenzie than as a physical element in the narrative. She questions her partners actions, or reassures him when he himself questions them.
Having said this, Gone Baby Gone does sometimes benefit from the presence of a walking, talking moral compass. As the film progresses, our own moral stance is challenged. Without giving the plot away, we join Kenzie in re-evaluating our preconceptions about who is right and wrong when it comes to the protection of children. Please don't take this as meaning that the film sides with child abductors; that would be absurd. But when the parents are distant and neglectful, who is to say what is best for the child? This tricky moral quagmire is accompanied by an equally tricky narrative one. While the first half is a simple search narrative, Gone Baby Gone's second half snakes around so many twists that it is difficult for us, not only to keep track of the plot, but too keep track of who is right and wrong. Characters who seemed good turn bad; characters who seemed bad turn good; and some who seemed good but turned bad, turn good again.
The confusion finds its way into the older Affleck's assured camera work. For the most part, the cinematography adheres to that loose, semi-documentary style that has been favoured in recent years. But occasionally, when the action threatens become as confusing as the plot, we are treated to an almost nauseatingly shaky camera: the characters are unsure of what is going on, and so are we.
When it comes to tally up the box office receipts, it is a shame that a large portion of the money Gone Baby Gone will make will be due to its parallels with recent media events. Because this is a surprisingly well-crafted and assured debut from the always polarising Ben Affleck, and it deserves to be watched and judged under its own merits, of which there are many. As a thriller you could not hope for anything more. And as an exploration of the moral pitfalls of investigating child abuse, well, thoughts will be provoked.