Very Disturbing With A Powerful Ethical Dilemma

Rating: 4/10 (23 May 2008)

This is definitely not the movie you want to choose on those days when you need some light entertainment. "Gone Baby Gone" is a dark and disturbing movie that frankly, in the end, left me on a bit of a downer, although admittedly the downer was mixed with the sort of ethical dilemma that I don't mind being left with. I give points to a movie that forces me to do some thinking when it's over, and "Gone Baby Gone" definitely does that.
The movie begins as a search for a missing child is underway. The child's family hire a private detective couple (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) to help with the investigation - a decision the police (represented by Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris) are none too happy with. Over the next couple of hours, we deal with the kidnapping, with a separate case of child sexual abuse thrown in, and we're introduced to a variety of unsavoury and wholly unlikeable characters (a list that includes the missing girl's drug addicted mother, played by Amy Ryan.) The story is often confusing. With the benefit of hindsight, you can see that it was deliberately so, in order to keep the viewer off balance in preparation for the truly bizarre and completely unexpected twist as the movie plays out its last few scenes. That twist really does shake you up, and leaves you questioning what's right and what's wrong, but, as I said, it also leaves you a bit down, because you know - as does everyone else watching, and as most of the characters seem to know - that what was done was right, but also that it wasn't for the best.
I can't honestly say that I enjoyed this movie, but I'm not sure that anyone intended for it to be "enjoyed" in the normal sense of the word. It's both interesting and unpleasant, and - again - I liked the ethical dilemma we're left to grapple with. Still, a movie that leaves me on a real downer can't get more than a 4/10 from me.