Prisoners(2013)

Prisoners is a american mystery thriller directed by Dennis Villeneuve. It is about the kidnapping of  two young girls in Pennsylvania. The film has strong biblical connection and lots of occult symbolism and mind control are being used.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mellisa Leo, Paul Dano, Mario Bello, Paul Dano, Terrance Howard, Viola Davis

Plot and Summary:

Prisoners is about the kidnapping of two young girls in a quite little town in pennsylvania. Every thing seems normal in Kelly Dover's( played by Hugh Jackman) life until on the thanksgiving day when his Daughter and his friends's disappear, the only clue that they have is the RV that was parked near the  their house. Detective Loki( Played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned to this case and he catches a suspect driver Alex Jones( Paul Dano) in the RV crashed near a parking lot. After questioning Alex, Loki finds that he is not mentally fit to answer the questions and releases him. Kelly is angered and tries to stop the release, when Alex tells him " the girls didn't scream when i took them" to him in his ears. The film then follows two story lines, one where Kelly abducts Alex and tortures him to find his daughters and another where Loki tries to find the true suspects.

Kelly Dover is typical man of the house, the alpha male.  A protective dad and somewhat paranoid even. He is always prepared for any mishaps. We can see this when detective Loki inspects his basements and finds huge stoke pile of food, emergency stuff. When his daughter goes missing he tries everything possible to find them, even though he is criticized by his friend (played by Terrance Howard) for torturing Alex. At the end of the film his efforts gets paid off but not the way he wants. This role might be one of the best portrayed by Hugh Jackman, most emotional that he has ever done. In some scenes his eyes and his voice conveys what needs to told.

Loki on the other hand, is a typical police officer. Very calm, spends most of his time in the case, has no personal life. He tries to solve the case with whatever Leeds he has. The story spirals and gets very complex to a point where Loki thinks there are no.possible leads left. But at the end it all sorts out. His character in the film is not very easy to understand, for starters he has this mannerism of blinking a lot and the entire film as such is covered with symbols and mazes. He for one is covered in many( the ring, the tattoos on his neck and fingers)

The theme of the film  abduction/penance/being held captive. The subject has deep meaning throughout the film. The suspect Alex is help captive by Kelly for more than 6 days and he never speaks a word of the existence of the girls. After we find about his past we have some conviction of his silence (though it is not explicitly told in the film). Loki finds a body of a corpe which was dead for 35 years only that it serves as the key element in the film to find the true suspect. And finally Kelly , though a devout Christian he chooses to keep Alex captive to find his daughters. Though angry at him, he finally forgives him and cries" ....and forgive the trespasser as we forgive.....". He ends up a prisoner at the end.

Mazes form an important part of the film. One of the suspects house gets raised by Loki where he finds Mazes everywhere. The suspect - Bryan is almost similar to Alex , obsessed with mazes he finally shoots himself during an interrogation. The case gets very complex when there is no evidence leading to the kidnapping of the children

The climax of the film is set at Alex's aunts place where all the questions are answered. Kelly Dover is imprisoned in house in a place where only the suspect knows and Loki kills the suspect rescuing Kelly's daughter. In the end we don't know if Kelly is rescued or not.

Verdict:

The story line and the way it is being told is the high point of the film. This.is one of the best performances of Hugh Jackman till date, an Oscar worthy one. The cinematography and background score also needs a special.mention. in most scenes the viewpoint is almost a distance and all we hear is the background noise of the characters. The film received  a nomination in the academy award for best cinematography. Though the film is referring to mythical characters Loki( a Norse got who saves the Leeds at the end) and having many references to symbols. It doesn't loose its way in between, Overall a very good suspense thriller