PRISONERS – Morality and the Maze

Denis Villeneuve is without a doubt, one of cinema’s greatest modern filmmakers and with Blade Runner 2049 just being released in cinemas, I wanted to dive deep into the meaning of, what I consider to be Villeneuve’s ultimate masterpiece, Prisoners. 

Prisoners starts with one of our main characters, Keller Dover, played remarkably by Hugh Jackman. A normal christian family man who cares for his loved ones. He and his family attend a Thanksgiving dinner at the home of their friends, the Birch’s. Everything is normal at first. The movie gives you some time to get to know and care for Keller and his family. It lets you put your guard down as does Keller. Tension slowly builds when the four kids come across an RV in their neighborhood. The scene ends disturbingly, suggesting someone watching the kids while they came across the RV. Soon after, the two younger girls go missing and that’s the moment when Keller’s whole world gets turned upside down. Tension keeps on building.

We’re then later introduced to Loki, an intelligent and fierce detective, who works the case of the two missing girls. As Loki works the case, it is apparent that Keller is unsatisfied with Loki’s detective work and tries to take matter into his own hands, suspecting the owner of the RV, Alex, to be the kidnapper. And it’s at this moment that Keller’s beliefs and morality come into question. The movie asks, “What are you willing to do for the one’s you care about?”. Religion plays a big role in this movie. Keller is a christian and through out the movie he keeps on losing his faith in God as he proceeds to take the law into his own hands. And when it’s revealed that the person who kidnapped the two girls was Holly Jones, a woman who has been kidnapping and murdering children for a long time, it’s also revealed that she was “waging a war against God” along with her husband, all because of the death of their son. 

The maze also plays a big role in this movie. Prisoners is a movie all about characters dealing with tragedy and the lines they are willing to cross to exact justice. The maze never takes on any physical form in this movie. It’s always a drawing. Keller’s maze is finding his faith in God again after all the things he does to find his daughter. Detective Loki’s maze is finding order in disorder as the case slowly starts to break him. The characters have an external and an internal struggle. Trying to find some sort of justice in the world while also trying not to be consumed by hatred and anger. 

Prisoners is one of my favorite movies. A true masterpiece that dives deep into the mind of people who experience tragedy and how they decide to deal with it. Their morality and escaping their own maze.