2) Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris

While Ben Affleck’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone didn’t really take off at the box office when it was released a couple of years ago, it did receive some glowing reviews which peaked my interest in seeing the film.

The film follows private detectives Patrick Kenzie (Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Monaghan) who are hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, only to become drawn into a mystery which runs much deeper than they originally thought.

One of the themes I found particularly interesting in this film is the way in which characters struggle with the incompatibility of their urban street lifestyle with their Catholic faith. “I asked my priest how you could get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God said to His children. “You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves”. This is a theme most commonly explored in the earlier films of Martin Scorsese, and is particularly central to his 1973 film Mean Streets (an interesting comparison could be made between Affleck’s Patrick Kenzie and Harvey Keitel’s Charlie).

This is one of those great films which really leaves you with some tricky moral questions to work through. Without wanting to give anything away, Gone Baby Gone has a interesting twist ending. This challenging resolution to the events of the story leaves the characters divided and you, as a viewer, with a real ethical dilemma.

This was an excellent film, even more impressive when you think it was Ben Affleck’s directorial debut. Films like Gigli, Daredevil and Surviving Christmas often cause people to overlook the fact that Ben Affleck is actually an Oscar winning screen writer (Good Will Hunting) and Gone Baby Gone reminds us that there may actually be some talent there after all. Also notable is a brilliant performance from Casey Affleck, who really comes into his own in this film, as his own man rather than Ben’s little brother.