The Movie Gone, Baby, Gone… and The Choices We Make in Life

The movie Gone, Baby, Gone is powerful movie full of twists and turns in the pursuit of a kidnapped child.  The movie starts with scenes of a white trash neighborhood.  The narrator even has a sort of respect for the ghetto way of life.  The people of the neighborhood know one another, they are proud of where they live.  Somehow they find an appeal in what an outsider would feel as drugs, bad tattoos, ignorance, and irresponsibility.  Amidst the trash, a child is stolen.  The grandmother calls all the major news stations, and suddenly a mass manhunt is underway. 

Perhaps the hunt would have ended fruitless after days turn to months without any luck.  But two private detectives do not give up despite the dreary statistics.  As it turns out a lot of dirty secrets, once hidden in shame are knocked into public view as the detectives dig deeper.  It turns out the mother was not simply at a friend’s house when her child was stolen, but instead in the bathroom of a bar doing cocaine… her 4 or 5 year old daughter was left in the bar area.

At first a drug dealer is suspected of committing the terrible act, but eventually 2 bullets in his chest help prove his innocence.  In the end it is the chief of police who is actually the kidnapper.   It always makes situations more difficult when the “villain” in the story has the best of intentions, and as the detective finally makes his way to the chief’s home, it is clear the child has a better life with him and his wife.  The private detective becomes torn between his responsibilities of uncovering the truth/doing his job and doing probably what is best for the child.  The detective’s sidekick and wife even strongly believes the child should be left with the chief.  In the end the detective must make a choice for the child and likely the rest of the chief’s life (as a free man or imprisoned.)

The detective chooses for the child to be with her true mother despite the consequences.  There is even a hint at the possibility that the mother has changed her ways as she blesses the world with praise and rejoices over her daughter’s return.  Even the media is satisfied by a happy ending.  Just to make sure the message of “people change” isn’t simply assumed, the detective checks up on the mother and her child and sees the mother ready to go on a date, leaving the child alone or potentially with the grandmother who is either in another room or another house. 

In a beautiful closing scene the detective sits down on the couch next to the girl offering to babysit her as the mother goes to get nailed or high or both.  He made the choice, and now it’s his responsibility to make sure the daughter is saved from the degenerate future she certainly would have eventually met if the kidnapping never took place. 

Personally I feel like the detective made the wrong choice.  I’m not advocating that people just get to snatch a child when the parents happen to mistreat their kids once in a while… certainly you have a serious right to ownership being a biological parent.  However… I think the mother was doing such a bad job that social services would have taken her kid away from her anyway if they had known about the situation.  The next step would be foster care… and by leaving the girl with the chief it would have guaranteed a good, loving home… perhaps without the drama that comes with beiGng in an orphanage.

I believe people are drawn to these types of movies because we are all forced to make tough choices in our lives.  We see the situations other people face.  I believe the best way to make the toughest decisions is by deciding your priorities in life beforehand.  It appears the mother ranked drugs above her child quite often… and that’s a serious error in priorities. 

Gone, Baby, Gone is an excellent movie, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a deep movie and is alright with some depressing undertones.