Gone Baby Gone

***Spoiler Alert***

Amazing movie. Surprisingly so, since it starred Casey Affleck and was directed by his older brother, Ben. You know, the dude that starred in Armageddon?

I guess that's why the movie caught me unawares. Turns out Casey is a really good actor, but he is a new face; I've seen him in one other movie, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Ben pulls a coherent, driven narrative together that kept my attention throughout, even had me at the edge of my seat a few times. Both men surprised me with compelling acting and focused directing. I won't underestimate them again.

It's the ending that clinches the movie. When Casey finally uncovers the truth of what really happened to Amanda, he's faced with a moral dilemma. Does he blow the whistle and return Amanda to her mother? Or does he look the other way, knowing an abduction took place but that it likely is in Amanda's best interests that she is removed from a Boston ghetto.

The movie poses the question to three of its main characters, Patrick, Angela, and Jack Doyle. Doyle kidnapped the girl in the first place, so he begs Patrick to drive back down the road and forget he knows where Amanda is. Jack took Amanda both to save her from a self-absorbed, strung-out mother and to fill the void left behind when his own daughter was abducted and killed years ago. His act is illegal but his moral compass is sound. Angela flat out tells Patrick he should leave Amanda where she is. That if puts her back with her deadbeat mother, she'll hate him for it. Patrick represents the only character in the movie who believes Amanda should be returned. It doesn't matter that she will more likely live a better, safer life with Doyle and his wife. The kidnapping mars the good deed of saving her from a life of Jerry Springer, mule runs, and a revolving door of strange men in her tiny life.

In the end, Patrick calls the cops and Amanda returns to her mother. Doyle goes to jail and Angela leaves Patrick. The last scene of the movie is probably the saddest. Little Amanda sits on a couch watching TV while Patrick talks to her mother. She's getting ready for a date, some guy who saw her on TV during the publicity of Amanda's disappearance. She hardly talks to Amanda directly, in fact mostly talks as if she's not even there. Patrick asks who is taking care of Amanda while she's out. The mother laughs at the question and says a friend who is about to find out in five minutes.

Patrick knows he is observing the consequences of his decision right before his eyes. He watched when Amanda was torn from Doyle's wife, a couple that put Amanda first in their lives, as all good parents do. As the mother continues to prep and prune, Patrick sees first hand that Amanda is worse off then she was. He takes all this in, but is he second guessing himself at this point? It would be hard not to, but he so strongly argued the case for returning Amanda, he might still think it was the right thing to do.

Or maybe not. Upon hearing that Amanda might not have anyone watching her, Patrick volunteers. He alone is responsible for putting her back into the care of a mother who isn't selfless enough to care for a fish, let alone a little girl. To make amends, he's going to have to watch over Amanda, protect her, keep her safe. A small price to pay for being able to do the right thing? Or the inevitable burden for having to live with a choice you made? Both probably, given that Patrick would have been conflicted no matter what choice he made.