An unsettling but riveting story with a disturbing ending...

Rating: 8/10 (10 November 2016)

The kidnapping of a little girl named Amanda McCready is the genesis for a dark and unapologetic drama from 2007 called Gone Baby Gone that offers disturbing surprises at every turn, rich with unsympathetic characters involved in an ugly story that literally had my stomach tied in knots for most of the running time.
Set in the sleepy little hamlet of Dorchester, Massachusetts, we learn that Amanda has been missing for 36 hours and the police investigation seems to have stalled. Amanda's aunt (Amy Madigan) hires Patrick (Casey Affleck) and Angie (Michelle Monaghan), investigators specializing in missing persons to aid in the investigation. Amanda's mother (Amy Ryan) is a drug addict who has been working as a drug mule to support her habit and her actions may have been directly behind Amanda's disappearance, but this is only the beginning of one of the most bizarre criminal conspiracy involving addiction and police corruption. This is another one of those movies that is very difficult to review without major spoilers.
More than anything, this film is a triumph for director and co- screenwriter Ben Affleck, who has mounted a story of stark realism where nothing is as it seems, most of the characters have hidden agendas and are not necessarily likable...this is the first film centered around a kidnapping that I recall where absolutely NO sympathy is evoked for the victim's mother...this woman appears to love her daughter and takes responsibility for what happens on the surface, but when we first meet her, she seems blissfully unconcerned and the picture of a woman who has no business being a parent.
As I've mentioned in other reviews, actors turned directors seem to have a knack for getting great performances from their actors and this film is no exception. Ben puts a lot of trust in brother Casey in a complex role and he absolutely commands the screen here and works well with Monaghan, a relationship we are on board with as we meet them but this story tears them apart. Solid support is provided by Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Titus Welliver, and especially Amy Ryan, in a gutsy and uncompromising performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
This film is not an easy watch, but it's worth the trouble and I promise that when you've finished watching this, if you're a parent, you will run immediately to your child and hug him forever.