Today, I saw Gone Baby Gone, the directorial debut of Ben Affleck. I loved it. The story of a child abduction in a hard Boston neighborhood is based on a novel, and adapted by Affleck and a co-writer compellingly. The performances by beloved and known actors Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman are incredible. Little Brother Casey Affleck drives the film. He plays the private investigator hired by the family (not the missing girl's drug-addicted mother played by excellent Amy Ryan) to find the girl. The film has a solid story and great actors doing what they do best. [SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FILM'S ENDING.]
Affleck gets a Mocha Baby Nod Award for interracial casting! The scene showing Morgan Freeman with the little white girl running into his arms --because he's become her new father--is incredibly touching and even more so because it shows an interracial father-daughter connection. In another scene, we see the girl -- who Freeman's character has abducted -- seated on his lap in a rocking chair while they wait for the police to arrive --Their secret has been exposed. What is most wonderful about this scene is that I can't imagine anyone thinking: why would that black man think he could father a white child? We are thinking: isn't it a good thing that the girl has --despite the fact of her abduction--landed in a loving home?! It doesn't matter that the family is headed by a black man and a white (I'm not sure about the actress-wife's ethnicity) woman. Congratulations Ben! You are the recipient of the first Mocha Baby Nod Award!
