Gone Baby Gone: A gripping and emotionally charged thriller

Introduction 

“ Gone Baby Gone (2007)” is a movie that narrates a story of the disappearance of a four-year-old Amanda McCready and the mystery surrounding the solution to her abduction. This movie is a challenging tale of how we notate the proper ways of raising and caring for the children. It also brings in the impact of the levels of the society, starting from the home, family, and the community in ensuring the well-being and safety of a child. However, the big picture and message that the Ben Affleck’s movie conveys is the ethical dilemma that stands in front of the society of whether the end justifies the means ( Southwell, 2013) . This paper provides a brief review of “Gone Baby Gone” and tries to point out some of the ethical problems that arise. It also seeks to solve some of the issues and create an ideal situation of what should have happened instead. 

Plot synopsis 

As the movie begins, Amanda McCready, a four-year-old minor, goes missing in Dorchester, Boston. The child’s mother, Helene, becomes the center of attention to the media her (Helene’s) sister-in-law, Bea, calls the media house after the disappearance of the kid. Four years old, Amanda McCready is missing in Dorchester, Boston ( Lehane, 2013) . The efforts of the local police officers bear no fruit which prompts Bea and her husband Lionel to pursue private investigators, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. 

The whole move by the couple is for the two officers to ‘supplement’ the investigation carried out by the police. Helene is a single mother and a drug addict and is actively involved in criminal activities with her boyfriend. After the young girl goes missing, Helene appears to ignore her as she does not put any effort to have her back. Her loyalty to alcohol and drugs is what makes the young girl unsupervised and what leads to her disappearance in the first place. In another end, police Captain Jack Doyle becomes concerned after his own daughter was killed after being abducted. This made him establish a special force dedicated to saving children. Two members of the particular unit, Nick Poole and Remy Bressant are the head of the investigation as they receive back up from the private investigators (Angie and Patrick). 

When still searching for the girl, there is an attempt to transfer money to a drug dealer in exchange for her, but it fails. Amanda is presumed dead by drowning, and even her funeral is arranged. Doyle takes early retirement after taking full responsibility for the failure to get the girl. Another kidnapping occurs, and a shootout takes place between the pedophile and the officers in which one is killed including the kidnapped boy. On seeing this, Patrick morality is tested and seeing what has happened, was left with no choice but to shoot the kidnapper. After the incident, Remy tells Patrick how they planted false evidence in people to connect them to the disappearance of Amanda, and this makes Patrick have a notion that the other officer has something to do with the case ( Lehane, 2013) . 

He starts questioning Remy’s integrity after getting heads up from another officer and connecting it to story he had heard before. This leads to Remy’s death. The two private investigators questions Lionel and ties him to the kidnapping of the child. As a twist to the plot, Patrick confronts Doyle and finds Amanda in his house. Patrick is left in a dilemma of whether to report the matter to the police or leave Amanda to live with the Doyles. Despite Angie urging him to leave the child, he goes ahead and tells the case and the Lionel, Doyle, and his wife are arrested. The ending scene has Helene preparing to go for a date but has not organized for Amanda’s care. Patrick decides to babysit her and learns that her mother did not even know the name of her favorite doll. 

Amanda’s story is one that is filled with a dilemma as the parties involved have different aims in mind. Patrick strives to find the young girl and return her to her house. On the other hand, her uncle and Captain Doyle conspired to kidnap her and ‘save’ her from an ignorant mother who only concentrates on men and drugs ( Gill, 2014) . The latter two have a good faith by removing the girl from a woman who does not take care of her properly. They wanted Amanda to have a decent future in the hands of a caring family of the Doyles. In the movie, there is an instance where Helene leaves the little girl in the car by herself and making her become heated up in the vehicle. In other scenes, she leaves Amanda unsupervised, and this is what leads to her disappearance ( Maguire-Jack & Showalter, 2016) . 

Lionel saw all these and felt it was wise to separate her from her mother. The motive was right, but the way they carry out the mission is what brings problems. The kidnapping was not the only way to help the suffering child, and the issue could have been made better by following due process. The concerned parties should have reported the matter to the child rescue center or the police. By conspiring to take the child, Captain Doyle acted with response to his emotions that stem from his daughter being kidnapped and killed. 

He was trying to solve the puzzle of her remaining less one child. This masked the legal process of saving a child from an abusive parent. With all the evidence of neglect that was in Helene’s side, uncle Lionel and the police would have won the case against her in court. This is because the confession of a family member who has witnessed the abuse of a minor weighs heavily in the investigation against the perpetrators when the law is followed (Gill, 2014). The closeness that Lionel had with Amanda would have made the whole story of kidnapping avoided in the first place had he reported the matter to the relevant child protection agencies or the police. 

The police chief of this area should ensure that this issue is mended for the law to prevail against personal conviction. Patrick had the choice to leave the child at Doyle’s house, but because Doyle took an oath always to uphold the rule of law, he broke it after conspiring to abduct the young girl. This move was driven by the emotions of losing a child to kidnappers and the feeling that Amanda was suffering at the hands of the mother. The chief of police should encourage the neighborhood to have cohesion in ensuring the problems of neglect are solved legally ( Maguire-Jack & Showalter, 2016) . This prevents the need to kidnap the child. 

Police Press Release 

Reference 

Gill, A. (2014). Updating the criminal law on child neglect: protecting children from severe emotional abuse:  IALS Student Law Review ,  2 (1), 41-51. 

Lehane, D. (2013).  Gone, baby, gone : Éditions Rivages. 

Maguire-Jack, K., & Showalter, K. (2016). The protective effect of neighborhood social cohesion in child abuse and neglect:  Child abuse & neglect ,  52 , 29-37. 

Southwell, D. M. (2013). Critical analysis of Gone Baby Gone.