Depression warning: The following article provides important story details about prisonersSo unless you are caught in the burden of not knowing the end, proceed with caution.
When we think of films by director Denis Villeneuve, we usually picture high-concept, visually ambitious sci-fi epics like ArrivalAnd the Blade Runner 2049or Dune. However, he achieved his first English-language success, prisonersis a more grounded crime drama, but still an aesthetic masterpiece (featuring Oscar-nominated cinematography by the masterful Roger Dickens) and a thought-provoking, twisted, captivating thriller, nonetheless.
The story of the devastating kidnapping of two young girls, a desperate working-class father (Oscar nominee/Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman) who takes matters into his own hands, and a loyal police detective (Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal) who struggles to solve the problem. A case through the book raises many questions throughout, even after the spine-tingling final shot. As the film approaches its 10-year anniversary, and while it’s been a hit on Netflix’s December 2022 Top 10 list, let’s take a deep look at prisoners It ends, starting with the revitalization of its closing moments.
What happens at the end of the prisoners
After Franklin (Terrence Howard, W The original MCU Rudy) and Nancy Birch’s (Viola Davis) daughter, Joy (Kayla Drew), is found alive. Killer Dover (Jackman) asks her about his daughter, Anna (Erin Gerasimovich), and she tells him he was indeed at her whereabouts, making him realize the kidnapper is Holly Jones (Melissa Leo).
When Dover goes to confront her, she pulls a gun on him and forces him to handcuff and drug himself, leading him to the hidden hole in her backyard, where she reveals that she and her late husband have been kidnapping Christian children. over years to make them feel what she felt when she lost her son to cancer. While trapped inside the hole, he pulled out a flashlight he was carrying, allowing him to find the red whistle his daughter said she had searched for before it disappeared.
Meanwhile, after Alex Jones (Paul Dano), who made one of the most twisted Riddler Pictures in Batman) In a makeshift torture chamber in Dover, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) is sent to notify Holly, who he finds drugging and killing Anna in a shootout that also seriously wounds his head. He desperately and erratically gets the unconscious child to the hospital and succeeds before later learning that she is recovering well from her mother, Grace (Maria Bello), who assured Loki that her husband would likely be arrested if he was found. Later, Loki watches for more clues at Holly’s house, and as he is about to leave, he hears a faint beep that catches his attention before it turns black.
What is the true identity of the suspected kidnappers?
prisoners Two prime suspects come forward in the case of Anna and Joy’s disappearance, and despite many reasons to believe otherwise, neither of them is guilty, but they are in fact the victims of Jones’ kidnapping – the first being her “nephew” Alex (one of Paul’s nephews). Dano’s strongest offers).
His real name is revealed to be Barry Milland, which explains why, at one point, he tells Dover that he is not Alex, and also indicates that his mental incapacity comes from trauma after years of captivity. This explains why he struggles so hard to answer Dover’s questions, as well as Desperate Dad’s extreme, tortured tactics, which is clearly just a new chapter to his ongoing nightmare that ends happily when Alex/Barry reunites with his real family.
While Alex is missing, Loki becomes suspicious of a man named Bob Taylor (David Dastmalchian in his first collaboration with Villeneuve before joining the… Dune cast), which we later learn from Holly’s confession to Dover being her second victim. Evidence for this revelation is scattered everywhere prisoners — from Taylor’s somewhat Alex-like demeanor to his obsession with drawing mazes similar to the symbol on Holly’s late husband’s necklace.
His false confession to the murders of Anna and Joey may have resulted from some Stockholm Syndrome-based coercion to abide by Holly’s will, while his choice to end his own life during interrogation may have been motivated by some desire to escape the trauma Holly inflicted on him.
Can Killer Dover be saved?
Despite the relatively straightforward plot, the prisoners The ending is somewhat ambiguous. The final shot sees Loki, presumably, realizing that Dover is alive and trapped in Holly’s pit from the faint sound of Anna’s red whistle.
This open-ended conclusion leaves us with no choice but to follow Dover’s mantra, which Loki paraphrased just moments earlier, “Pray for the best and prepare for the worst.” Hopefully, and with some certainty, we can deduce that Loki immediately followed the beep only to find it coming from under the plywood beneath Holly’s car, arrested the forensic investigators before they packed up and left, and had them help bring Dover to justice. Of course, even if this rescue does happen, Dover must be preparing for the worst himself, as he will likely face another kind of prison soon as punishment for his treatment of Alex.
What is the true meaning of the title, O prisoners?
Speaking of prisons, in addition to the characters who are literally locked up in the movie – Alex, Anna, Joy, and later Dover – the movie title also refers to those who are prisoners to their desperation or, more specifically, their inescapable devotion to achieving their sense of justice no matter the cost.
This theme applies symbolically to both Dover, as a father who takes extreme, inhumane measures to find his daughter, and Loki, as a cop struggling to do the right thing by the people he’s sworn to protect and maintain their sense of order without losing himself. the operation. The theme ends up getting more real in Dover’s case, as it is his vigilance that ends up getting him caught by Holly.
Villeneuve comments on the Dover-Lucy dynamic in an interview with ScreenSlam, comparing it to a “cowboy vs. sheriff” scenario in the Old West, while analyzing each character’s moral motivation and how, despite their conflicting ideas, they are united by a strong belief that each is doing the right thing. You could also apply this theme to Holly, who believes her child abduction is justified because she herself is a victim of losing a child, referring to it as a “war against God.”
Just about every character in prisoners Captive of something unique in some way, which makes this powerful and profound story about law and order.
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