Patricia Luna: Prisoners

Film Research

One of the first scenes of the film is of the Dover family, they are seen all walking and enjoying their time together (for the first and final time) as they head to their neighbor’s home for Thanksgiving dinner. The mood at this point is lighthearted as you get introduced to the family. The scenery colors are neutral.

The mood of the film by this scene starts to get a bit darker, as the scenery starts to get gloomy and feeling of being scared/worried comes over the children as they come upon the rv. Before encountering the rv the children were seen being playful/happy but as soon as they got close to the creepy rv their mood changes and even more when they realise someone is inside.

Moving along the mood of the film shifts even more darker as we see Detective Loki in a scene with pouring rain, dark shadows/ backgrounds and dim lights. The mood is now creepy as we get teased with the discovery of yet again the old rv, we get hit with the sudden set of emotions that the abductor is the person who owns the rv.

Anger and frustration is the mood of this scene. The father is extremely tired and angry that Alex the supposed killer does not respond to his questions. So mad that he has beaten him up pretty badly and to scare him even more he grabs a hammer and bashes the sink.

Again it’s a fail trying to talk to Alex, it goes so bad that he tries to escape, breaks a window and cuts the Father with the broken glass. In this scene the distress is seen in both Alex and the father, they are both pretty beaten up emotionally and physically.

Alex is seen in this scene or at least his swollen, beaten, bloody eye is seen. After not responding to questions the father put Alex in the bathtub and trapped him in there, which did help because by this point Alex finally responds and there is a breakthrough on finding the kidnapper.

In this scene we can see how this has greatly affected the detective as well. He like the parents has lost it that he hasn’t been able to figure out this maze of crazy events. He is seen looking in distress at the maze that he was so sure was an important clue.

This scene is a g example of showing how devastated the parents have become. The look on their face shows how they just don’t know what to do any more. It represents the lives of both sets of parents in how this tragic event has shifted them apart.

An important object of the movie is this maze that is seen throughout the whole movie in different forms. It is key to connecting all the dots and figuring out who the kidnapper is and the story behind to why this person has done such horrible acts.

This scene was a part of showing the faith that was still living among the parents and everyone involved. The lights from the candles and teddy bear bring on a mixture of both hope and sadness. The scene is also a part where there is another breakthrough in finding another clue when a strange man is seen observing the wake.

Essay

Prisoners a thriller/crime movie involves the lives of two families whose 9yr old daughters get kidnapped. It's the worst nightmare of any parent and the movie shows how this incident transformed their life completely. It shows how saddened, heartbroken and tragic a parents life becomes. How a religious father can lose faith and start taking matters into his own hands when he becomes irritated with not finding his daughter, that he even goes to the extreme of committing a few crimes/sins. How empty and devastated a mother becomes after losing her daughter that she no longer wants to do anything how she loses herself in grief and spends the rest of her time in her dark room crying. As well it shows how deeply this event effects not only the family but other people involved like the detective who risk his own life and went beyond his required help to try and get the daughters back.

Throughout the whole movie there is a since of raising tension and bit of confusing as we get closer to revealing the puzzle of finding out who the kidnapper is and where the girls are at.The moon and scenery of the movie is dark, raining, cold, cloudy, mysterious and gloomy. The characters all wear neutral colors nothing to noticeable, that is only the two little girls are seen wearing saturated colors. There are also a few special objects that are important to the film such as the old rv that the girls are last since playing besides, which also belonged to Alex the supposed killer, the rv is represented in its original car size form and in a toy form. The maze another object is seen throughout, it is seen on a necklace that was around a corpse, on all the walls inside a house, and in books. Also Anna’s (one of the missing girls) red whistle, for this object Anna and Joy leave the house to go look for in the beginning and this object as well closes the movie as the now missing dad uses it to catch the attention of the detective to let him know his there trapped. The movie even if the daughters were found does not end on a good note for the reason that we don’t know what will happen with the father who risked his own life to find the girls.

Words to Idea + Thesis Statement

5 words: devastating, family, agony, kidnaped, risk
A devastating story following two sets of parents and their family who have to live through the agony of having their daughters kidnapped and a father who is welling to risk his own life to get them back.