Prisoners

“How far would you go?” Fantastic. For the first 20 minutes or so i wasn’t sure if i’d like this. It seemed rather generic, and like other films i’ve seen in the genre. However, as the movie progressed, it pulled me in more and more.  The pure heartbreak and torment these characters face is palpable in every emotion and word spoken. Keller - initially portrayed as a soft spoken family man morphs into what many could describe as a monster, and though we can understand his obsession with the search for his missing daughter, it raises the question of “how far would you go?”. Would you stop when the police tell you its “under control”? Or would you resort to kidnapping and torturing who - you think - kidnapped your daughter, under only the guise of a suspicion?  The title for this movie, “Prisoners” is a perfectly fitting description for almost every character in this movie. Keller is a prisoner to control, and his fear of losing that control turns into obsession. He consistently traps himself in his own logic: “I have to do this.” Detective Loki is a prisoner of his case - of his job. He’s stuck in a loop of solving things, over and over. This is just a few examples. The consistent themes of faith argue the question “what do you do when your beliefs are tested to the extreme?” And its up to the characters to decide if they stay moral, or bend their beliefs to fit their actions.  But the answer, apparently, isn’t as cut and dry as “good or bad,” Because faith doesn’t automatically make you good, your actions do…and those can go very wrong very fast. All in all, there’s a lot to think about here. It left me thinking to myself what I would do if in this situation, and moreso, what i wouldn’t. But in reality, I don’t think thats something you can know till you’re there. And that uncertainty is exactly what makes it so unsettling.