Gone Baby Gone

I watched this movie because the title appealed to me and the trailer was very interesting.

Every parents nightmare is losing a child, and a nightmare for a detective is not being able to find one. Gone Baby Gone begins with taking of a little cute girl. Four year old Amanda McCready is plucked from her bed in Boston's working class Dorchester neighborhood one night while her mother, Helene (Amy Ryan), is apparently at a neighbor's house watching television. The police undertake a massive hunt for Amanda, but their efforts are not enough for the little girl's aunt (Amy Madigan), who seeks out private eyes Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to help with the investigation. Angie Gennaro asked to Kenzie if he knows people in the neighborhood that don't talk to the police. "Yeah, one or two," he answers.

When Kenzie starts talking to these people, he learns that Helene wasn't at a neighbor's when her little girl was snatched. She was doing coke in the bathroom of a local dive with her heel of a boyfriend. Amanda may have been taken by people who know Helene and want something from her. There were few questions about Amanda: Was Amanda abducted by a drug dealer known as "Cheese"? What might her family really know about the kidnapping? And the central question, running through the film : Is Amanda alive or dead?

As far as the story goes I'd never spoil it for you but it's complex, not confusing. There is a lot going on and it's so real. I don't know what's happened in this area but people have become so lousy. So lousy that if you're a good person you just don't know what can be done anymore. There seems to be no answer sometimes and this film is set in that world. If you have the brains and heart to try you don't even know what will come of it.

I recommend this movie to intelligent people. People who want to come out of a movie thinking about what they just saw. People who want to see an incredibly well made film. And anyone who ever liked Ben Affleck even for half a second. He should be very proud of this movie.