PRISONERS - A Film Essay

The Narrative - Prisoners is a riveting and taut procedural thriller following the abduction of two young girls. We witness the harrowing emotional ramifications of a missing child, a crippling loss of hope and the lengths parents will be driven to for their child's safety. Villeneuve, aided by Deakin's masterful eye sustains a continual momentum of unending dread and unease. The movie is a largely grim and desolate film with twisted characters and a mystery that continues to deepen with every new development. It is surprising how Villeneuve transforms a conventional mystery and layers it with deep psychological subtext to unravel and examine closely.

Decoding the title - The title, in a literal sense, refers to the kidnapped girls in addition to Alex and Bob. the four of them are physically imprisoned and their captivity is clearly an allusion to the film's title. In fact, the title could be very well applied to nearly every character in the film. Keller's wife and son are prisoners of his outbursts and raging personality. they are powerless to stop his destructive ways and are therefore trapped as a result. Similarly, the Birch family is equally helpless to restrain Keller and is therefore even complicit and submissive in his act of torturing Alex. Keller himself is a prisoner of his terrible ego, pride and arrogance. In a subtle hint of SYMBOLISM, Keller's father is even revealed to have been a prison guard.

Decoding the mazes - The motif of mazes is introduced in the second half of the film, as Loki stumbles upon Bob Taylor's home, where the walls are entirely covered with mazes. Bob refuses to talk during questioning and almost obsessively continues to draw mazes. Even when Keller tortures Alex, he quietly reveals that the girls are in the maze. As Bob commits suicide and Loki is left with the maze, we learn that it is unsolvable So what does it mean? it is later revealed that Holly's husband, Mr Jones, wore a maze pendant. Both Alex and Bob associate their abductors with the mazes. Bob is even psychologically obsessed with the mazes. It could imply that the maze leads back to the Jones couple, wherein they represent the maze.

Spirituality and faith - The movie is laced with a fair amount of religious and spiritual subtext. The film also represents a heartbreaking crisis of faith. The opening scene itself shows Keller reciting a prayer before his son shoots a deer. He is hardworking, earnest and a devout Christian. He holds onto his faith and always seems prepared for the worst. And yet, his life and faith are thrown into an array after his daughter is abducted. The movie also raises questions about spirituality and its perplexing nature; how faith can sustain in the face of evil and ill circumstances.

The loose threads - While Prisoners neatly resolves the mystery of the abducted girls and the kidnapper's identity, it leaves the ending up to our interpretation. In a film with such a dense and ambiguous detail, one must work through a labyrinth to uncover what it all means. Firstly, what does the priest indicate? Keller arrives at a priest's residence to question him about the kidnapping; only to discover a body in the basement. The priest confesses that he killed the man; but only because the man was responsible for killing 16 children. We later learn that the man was Holly's husband all along.

The kidnappings - As the film eventually concludes, we realise that Holly kidnapped Anna and Joy as a part of her war against God; her husband was her accomplice but ever since he disappeared, Holly arranges the kidnappings by herself. We are shown that Joy escaped from Holly's clutches and was rescued, but Holly held back Anna. Eventually, she is saved by Loki and the film seemingly reaches a satisfactory ending.

Other motifs - Detective Loki adds an intriguing hint of Nordic mythology to the film. in his first scene, he discusses Zodiac signs; he has astrology tattoos and even wears a Masonic ring. While Keller is a devout Christian and Holly could be viewed as Satan, Loki perhaps represents higher spirituality. Prisoners also have a recurring motif of trees. This is what Denis Villeneuve had to say about the trees, " They're kind of like ghost characters. they're always there, at least in the background. In each scene, you can feel their presence and they are linked with this idea of necessary violence."