Prisoners: Analysis Essay Example

The film Prisoners starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman was shot in 2013 and set in Pennsylvania. The film received a number of awards and nominations, including a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 2014 Academy Awards and winning the People’s Choice Award at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. It also proved to be a minor hit at the box office, bringing in $122m.
The movie begins with the daughters of two separate families going missing and focuses upon the parents’ reaction to this event and the ongoing investigation of their disappearance. Gyllenhaal’s character, Detective Loki, is a grizzled and determined man hoping to solve the crime using good police work. Jackman’s character, Keller Dover, is frustrated at the law’s inability to convict the mentally disabled Alex Jones (Paul Dano) who looks like an obvious choice for the kidnapper. He decides to take the law into his own hands and abducts Jones himself, brutalizing him but failing to get a confession. It turns out that it was actually Alex’s aunt, Holly, who had committed the abduction. After a violent struggle where Loki kills Holly, the girls are saved.
Perhaps the best thing about this film is the cinematography. It is beautifully shot and this also serves to heighten the relationship between the viewer and the plot. The darkness of the story is reflected in the scenery that we are shown throughout, including the broken down warehouse where Keller tortures Alex Jones. Similarly, the performances of Gyllenhaal, Jackman and Dano in particular all stand out as being excellent, capturing their roles perfectly. The script is also very well done, with the dialogue being very realistically written and matching up well with the story that is being told.
The ethical dilemma that is put forward to the viewer here is how one should react when they feel that the police is not enforcing the law properly. Keller Dover feels that the kidnapper is right before everyone, but is getting away via the loophole that they cannot pin any hard evidence on him. If I was approached with the same situation I would like to think that I would be able to resist the urge to engage in the sort of vigilantism that he does here. It is morally wrong, particularly when the accused is mentally disabled, as is the case with Alex Jones. However, the brilliance of the film is that because emotions are so heightened it is very clear to see why Dover acted this way and this is what makes Prisoners so powerful.