PRISONERS

US, 2013, 156 minutes, Colour.
Hugh Jackman, Jake Gylenhaal, Paul Dano, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Len Cariou.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Prisoners is one of the strongest dramas of 2013. It has been directed by Canadian Denis Villeneuve, who made a great impact with his Oscar-nominated film, Incendies. He has not failed in his follow-up film.

There are many prisoners in this film, some held in abduction and detention, some trapped in their own personalities.

On paper, the plot about the abduction of two little girls might seem fairly straightforward. The police investigate. The fathers become involved. The mothers share in the grief. The search goes on over many days and the audience is always unsure of the outcome.

The film opens with two hunters stalking a deer in a wintry November setting. The soundtrack has a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. There will be themes of hunting during the film. There will be some Christian themes.

Two families celebrate Thanksgiving together, the Dovers and the Birches. Keller Dover is played by Hugh Jackman in one of his best roles and Maria Bello is his wife. The Birches are played by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis. Before the meal the two little girls go for a walk and wamt to play on a camper van parked in the street. After the dinner, they disappear as does the camper van.

The film is very powerful showing the desperation of Dover. An intense man, a carpenter and builder, he is a reformed alcoholic and a devout Christian, listening to tapes in his car. Angered by the seeming lack of effort by the police, he takes the search into his own hands with brutal and devastating results. He persuades his friend Franklin Birch to join him to find out where the girls have been him.

In the meantime, it is Jake Gylenhaal as the local detective who has never lost a case using police methods to try to track down the lost girls. It is one of Jake Gylenhaal’s best performances also, a loner, serious, with several tattoos, and no back story. It is inevitable that the two men will clash.

There has been controversy about the torture sequences in the film, whether they are too brutal, or if they bring home to the audience what is truly happening in the interrogation. Many have seen this plot line as echoing Americans taking people captive, interning them, torturing them, the superior Americans, righteous, against those they perceive as enemies, right or wrong. And the possibility is always there that they are wrong.

Central to the film is the man accused of abducting the girls. An accident in his early life has meant that he has an IQ of the boy about 10 years old. Played by Paul Dano, a versatile actor who does not always take on sympathetic roles, the audience is puzzled about his role in the taking of the girls because there seems no real evidence against him. Which makes the interrogation more brutal.

Another suspect enters the picture and is pursued by the detective, interrogated, his house searched, but the connection is not what the audience expects. In fact, by the time the film has ended, we realise that there were many clues given as to what had happened, especially in the subplot of an alcoholic priest and a dead body in his basement and his story of a man wanting to make a confession about abductions. One of the difficulties in investigations is the credibility of the witnesses, and a presumption that they will be telling the truth. Here, vicious lies are told.

There is a strong supporting cast with Len Cariou as the priest and, especially the very versatile actress, Melissa Leo, who appears in a great many films, several in 2013, very different roles and characters. But it is the focus on Hugh Jackman’s strong character and the counterbalance of Jake Gylenhaal’s detective which makes this a very strong drama, even to the final moments, which incorporate yet another clue and create an uneasy sense of what is to follow.

A dark exploration of human nature, evil choices begetting evil consequences. Sombre but strong.

1. Acclaim for the film, drama, the script, Oscar-nominated photography, the performances? The work of the director?

2. The title, meaning, as applied to the abducted girl, to the tormented father, to the alleged abductor? To the community? To Loki? Holly Jones and the basement, and the maze?

3. The town, Thanksgiving, the American fall, wintry? Homes, the apartments, streets, the police precincts, cafes, the derelict unit and interiors, the basement of the maze? The feeling of place? The musical score?

4. The opening, Dover and his son, shooting the stag, praying the Lord’s prayer, the father, commending his son? Father-sudden relationship?

5. Families, working together, friendship, neighbours, going up to the Thanksgiving dinner, the ordinariness, the little children playing, the older children and their talking, the role of supervision? Seeing the van in the street, the driver, suspicions? This leading to further suspicions after the abduction?

6. The characters of the family members, Dover and his strength, friendly? Grace and her support? Frank the, African- American, Nancy? Hosting the dinner? The older children, the friendships? Playing? The loss and the search?

7. The van, playing on it, gone, the police finding it, examining it, no evidence of Alex and the children?

8. The anguish, Dover upset, Grace opting out, Franklin handling the situation, Nancy? The older children? The son in the house and looking after Grace?

9. Dover and the police, his being upset, the search of the woods, everybody helping?

10. The introduction to Loki, his reputation, not that much information about his past, alone for his meal on Thanksgiving? Past success? His men? Going into action, method, the search, collecting information, interviews? His superiors and the issues of funding, giving advice, his losing his temper? His interrogations, coming on strongly? The encounters with Dover, Dover’s anger, urging him on?

11. The van, Alex, his mental state, reserved in speaking, the interrogations, not giving them information? Holly Jones as his aunt, taking him from the precinct, the alleged comments, Dover’s angry reaction, causing an incident, the attack? Dover and blame?

12. The investigation leading to the priest, the information about the bones, the man coming to confess? The priest and his drinking, going to the precinct, questioning?

13. Dover, abducting Alex, going to the abandoned premises, his presuming he was right, the brutality, treatment? Tying Alex up, the torture over the days, the brutality? Alex, the blood, injuries, tied up, not giving any information?

14. Enlisting Franklin, his initial reaction, acquiescence, the continued torture, the desperate interrogation of Alex for the whereabouts of the girl? Nancy and her reaction to what was happening and to visit, the reaction, hard stance?

15. Dover and his lies to his family, alleging he was searching, torturing Alex? His angers, Loki following him, buying the alcohol, the argument with Loki, his drinking? Grace’s reaction, fearing someone outside the house? Dover and his demands of his son?

16. Holly Jones, her story, her husband, the death and their grief, turning against God, the adoption, Alex as their son? The religious dimension? The irony of the husband going to confess? His death? The photos of the husband and the children?

17. Further stories of abductions, the couple still searching after years – and the irony that it was Alex who was taken? Reunion?

18. Vigil, the suspicious man, Dover pursuing him? information from the store that he was buying clothes, the map of various victims, his interrogation, background of abduction, shooting himself and Loki’s shock? The buried dolls?

19. The return of Franklin’s and Nancy’s daughter, in the hospital, Dover and his desperation to question her?

20. The photos of clothes, Dover identifying some as his daughter’s?

21. Confrontation between Dover and Holly, her pleasant manner, inviting Dover in, the discussion, talking about her husband? The change, the gun, the talk about the maze? Dover going down, calling for his daughter? Finding the whistle?

22. Holly Jones, driving the car over the entrance to the maze?

23. Loki’s visit, talking with Holly Jones? Her death?

24. Loki, the aftermath, talking to the families, Dover vanishing, Grace realising that if it was found, he would go to prison? Thinking that he had fled?
Wanting the search of the site, the workers digging and finding the ice and snow too hard? Loki staying and heasring the whistle? An apt ending?

25. The overall impact of the film about families, about sexual predators, about American violence, imprisonment and torture, responsibility, police investigations, religious motivation, anti-religion?