THE CAPTIVE

Canada, 2014, 112 minutes, Colour.
Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speakman, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Durand, Mireille Enos, Alexia Fast, Bruce Greenwood.
Directed by Atom Egoyan.

Celebrated Canadian director, Atom Egoyan, has had two films released in 2014 with abduction and abuse themes, firstly, The Devils Knot, based on actual events of the 1990s, and this film, The Captive, a fiction which dramatises possibilities concerning the kidnapping of a little girl and keeping her prisoner, something which the world has become more aware of, especially since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann? in Portugal.

The film caused controversy in the Cannes film Festival, 2014, many of the reviewers deriding the screenplay, holes in the plot, thinking it a tawdry film. One can agree that the film leaves a great deal to the imagination and memory of the audience, moving between different time eras without immediate explanation, keeping graphic scenes of the treatment of the girl off the screen, with the result that some might be tempted to think it is all too easily presented.

However, the film does set up a loving father and mother, very ordinary types, with a landscape gardening business in the south of Canada, close to Niagara Falls and the American border. Their little girl, Cassandra, is a keen skater with admiring parents. After practice, she and her father stop at a diner to buy a pie and when he comes back to his truck, she is gone.

The film does not keep the audience in suspense about who did it, showing the man, a wealthy man with position in business and in society. Perhaps it is a weakness in the film, when audiences have looked at and listened to some graphic stories over the years, that the years in which Cassandra has been in captivity are glossed over. We see her six years after the abduction, now a teenager, living a very comfortable life except for the reality of the imprisonment, a victim, it would seem, of the Stockholm Syndrome, even going online to search out potential victims for her captor.

As the film moves back and forwards to and from the time of the abduction, to 6 years later, to 8 years later, we see what has happened to the parents and we see two members of a special squad to deal with paedophiles.

The parents, played by Ryan Reynolds and Mireille Enos, have taken the abduction very hard, not knowing whether their child is dead or alive. The father has something of a quick temper, a violence charge against him, has had financial difficulties, suggesting to one of the police that he may have sold his daughter. He still keeps the back seat of the car as it was when Cassandra disappeared. In the meantime, the mother has a cleaning job in the house of the abductor, her daughter able to watch her mother at work through a surveillance system, elaborately set up so that the abductor can observe, even putting cameras in police areas.

One of the police, Nicole, is played by Rosario Dawson, who has had bad experiences from her childhood and is sympathetic to the case, seeing the mother regularly, the father refusing to go, weary of his wife’s angry outbursts of blame. The other is an angry officer, Scott Speedman, always suspicious of the father – and who enters into a relationship with Nicole. Nicole, who has been an exemplary officer, is guest speaker at a charity dinner (which is attended by the abductor who targets Nicole).

Almost by accident, a clue and lead emerge after eight years, which leads to a rather melodramatic and violent ending.

On reflection, there are many limitations in the structure and impact of the film, but, while it is on the screen, it keeps the attention.

1. Title? Expectations? Abductions? Paedophile rings?


2. The Canadian production, near Niagara Falls, near the American border? Universal story and message?

3. The time shifts, the six years passing from the abduction, eight years?

4. The focus on the family, Matthew and Tina, their love for Cassandra? Cassandra skating, their stopping for the pie, the phone call to Tina, the girl remaining in the back of the van, gone?

5. The shift in time, Cassandra as a teenager, with Mika, locked away, the importance of the surveillance cameras? At her computer, watching her mother and the cleaning? Her being used – but by implication on screen rather than graphic action? The placement of her tooth on the bed? Her skating prize discovered? Online, attracting young girls?

6. Matthew and Tina, ordinary parents, landscape design, the charge against Matthew for brawling, his need for money? Watching their daughter skate? Cassandra and Albert? The promise that he would not skate with anyone else as long as she lived? The language of promise, trick, gimmick, relevancy – and her later using these words meeting with her father? Her father? The pie, the phone call, the short time, the subjective camera indicating the vehicle coming alongside, Cass gone? Matthew, response, desperate, the search, the snow? Going to the police, Tina arriving, the anger, blaming Matthew?

7. Nicole and Jeff, their personalities, Jeff new to the squad, the interview with Matthew, the good cop, bad cop? Jeff upsetting Matthew, accusations of selling his child for money? The tension in the relationship over the years? Tina, the bond with Nicole, coming to the interviews? Matthew not coming, dreading Tina’s outbursts? The photo, online, the reassurance that Cass was still alive? Matthew’s reaction?

8. The setting up of the squad, for abduction issues, targeting paedophiles, the various people, the expertise, the profiler and his understanding of jigsaw puzzles?

9. Mika, the lavish house? His business connections in discussions? Unlocking the part of the house with Cass? His charm, social position? At the dinner, talking to Nicole, the sinister woman, the potion in the drink? Taking Nicole home? Putting her in the van? Imprisonment, surveillance? Matthew hearing the woman interviewing Albert, about the award, driving with Mika, stopping off at the diner, confronted by Matthew?

10. The years passing, Matthew, his work, the truck, leaving the back the same with Cass’s clothes, his angers? Hostility towards Jeff? Tina and their work in the house, under surveillance all the time, by Cass?

11. The truck, the Christmas trees, sent to the motel, waking, all the trees along the road, Matthew following them, seeing Cass, the reunion, the neutralising dart?

12. The years passing, sudden chance of the interview and overhearing it, following the couple in the car, at the diner, confronting them, the manager and the notices, phoning the police? Jeff agreeing to follow, Matthew putting the GPS on the abductors vehicle?

13. Matthew, the confrontation, the diner, calling the police, the chase, the snow, bumping into Matthew’s vehicle, his turning back, the police coming to the diner?

14. The charity dinner, the poster with Nicole as a policewoman, Vincent meeting her, chatting with his wife, her questions? the table? Her speech? Mika and his being charming? The sinister woman, the black wig, the pill in the drink, the abduction of Nicole? Her story about being alone at age 14? Imprisoned in the fan?

15. Going to the house, the range of surveillance, discovery of the camera? Mika’s using it to spy? The confrontation with the police, the guns, the shooting?

16. A glimpse into the world of abductions, the girls used, abused, the abusers and their types, position in society? The role of parents? The role of the police?