The film
“Prisoners†is a visceral, savagely-genuine, emotive, enigmatically-frightening, intellectual chronicle of child abduction, brutal torture (both mental and physical), criminal psychosis, obstinate love, fatherly devotion, and raw expressions of white masculinity. Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this prodigious thriller is the unassailable fact that such inclement circumstances could certainly afflict any of our lives.
The film opens with a white father (“Keller Dover,†played by Hugh Jackman) and his teenage son seated in the forest, presumably in late autumn, somewhere in Pennsylvania. The son shoots a whitetail deer and the two drive home in the father’s truck (a tarnished, dented F-150 that looks the part of a carpenter’s work vehicle) as the father discusses survivalism and other manly topics. The father and his son butcher the deer in the hours prior to his family (which also includes a wife and young daughter) attending a Thanksgiving party at the home of a neighbor, the Birch family...
CAPTION: The Dover Family
The Birch family is black, but seems well off, as both parents (the father played by Terrance Howard) seem educated and intelligent. The idealistically-docile family of Negroes has two daughters, one a similar age (6-7 years) as Keller’s daughter, Anna. While the two families laugh and trade anecdotes after the meal, Anna and the black daughter return to the Dover residence, but go missing while walking home…
CAPTION: Keller Dover With Wife
In the wake of augmenting panic, Keller’s teenage son recalls noticing a menacing-looking RV parked nearby. When the police become involved in the manhunt, the RV is discovered and the man driving is arrested. The “suspect†is Alex Jones, an orphaned, nerdy, frail, nearly-mute, mentally handicapped young man who lives nearby with his elderly aunt. The officer assigned to the case is Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal)…
CAPTION: Hours of Interrogation
Since no information or evidence can be gleaned from mysterious Alex Jones, the police are obligated to release the young man after 48 hours. Keller becomes enraged at his release, and drives to the police station while Jones is being set free…
CAPTION: Protective White Father
Soaked with animalistic rage, Keller grabs Jones in the parking lot, and Jones whispers something (concerning the abduction of his daughter) to Keller that nobody else can hear, further enraging him. After Jones is released back into the custody of his aunt, Keller drives to her home and waits for Jones to leave the premises, abducting him at gunpoint while he walks his dog. Keller takes Jones to a large, abandoned home that was once owned by his father. Once there, he relentlessly tortures the young man for information by binding his hands and punching him in the face, dousing him with freezing/boiling water, and, in perhaps one of the most intense moments I’ve ever seen in a film, smashing his hand with a hammer. Keller confides in the black father (“Franklin,†Howard’s character) about his torture sessions with Jones, and the black father is constantly “wimping out,†sobbing, and begging Keller to stop and
“leave it for the policeâ€â€¦despite the fact that Jones obviously has knowledge of the abduction of the black father’s daughter…
CAPTION: Black Father Portrayed as Effeminate and Weak
Keller’s efforts to torture Jones prove futile, as the young man won’t tell him anything about the abduction. Meanwhile, Detective Loki monitors the reckless Keller, and the two actors (Jackman and Gyllenhaal) are flawless as “adversaries†with the same goal of finding the lost girls. Detective Loki gathers his own evidence, interviewing local pedophiles, unearthing startling clues, discovering dead bodies from long ago that weave seamlessly into the crime, leading to a truly scintillating climax.
Aside from the fantastic plot, the aspect of the film that I enjoyed most about
“Prisoners†was the sheer sincerity of it all. The homes, the neighborhoods, the cars, the people, the dialog, the technology, the criminals…even the weather, all reeked with middle-class authenticity. There was no “futuristic†nonsense. No mindless fireballs. No references to “popular†culture. No female heroines (a true oxymoron) shattering testicles and “saving the day.†No high-speed chases, perverted jokes, or hollow sex scenes, either. There was the unfortunate matter of the black family, but as I mentioned, the Negro father was portrayed as a blubbering, scared, metrosexual sissy-boy yuppie…contrasted against the handy, burly, violent, determined, tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners white father.
Through-and-through, the film is steeped with fundamental intensity and it proved to be Hugh Jackman’s (arch liberal with adopted black kids) finest hour since
“The Fountain†(2006). Jackman’s furious angst and proactive ferocity faultlessly personified a father’s burden to protect his offspring from harm. Gyllenhaal was tremendously realistic as a public servant annoyed by the meddling father and concerned about his reputation in the police force...
CAPTION: Detective Loki Follows Keller Dover
I’d certainly recommend the film to others; however, most women probably wouldn’t appreciate some of the more sadistic “torture†scenes...
[video=youtube;bpXfcTF6iVk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpXfcTF6iVk[/video]
