Ben Affleck's Directorial Debut - Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck is the sort of actor who is more famous than any role he's played. His association with Matt Damon has helped to propel him through the slumps, even the infamous 2003 flop Gigli. He continued to star in mildly popular films for much of his career, but now, he is getting back to his behind-the-scenes roots: having established the necessary Hollywood connections, he's ready to play director.

Ben Affleck's directorial debut is now in wide release all over the United States. It's based on Ben Affleck's favorite book and stars Ben Affleck's brother. Is he just riding the coattails of his fame? Few other first-time directors would be able to land Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, and Michelle Monaghan. The question is whether the movie rests on these advantages, or whether it stands on its own.

Ben Affleck's first major appearance behind camera was when he and Matt Damon shared writing credit for Good Will Hunting. Kevin Smith was so impressed with Affleck's performance in his films that he used his industry connections to take the script to Miramax, which allowed Affleck and Damon the starring roles they desired. Critics praised both the film and Affleck's performance in it, particularly his spot-on Boston accent and personality. Now, Ben Affleck has decided to turn this experience to adaptations, making a film version of the novel Gone Baby Gone by Mystic River's Dennis Lahane.

Reviewers have raved. Firmly settled at a 93% "fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes, Gone Baby Gone is already considered an Oscar contender. The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter says that Ben Affleck's prowess "shows that even if he never developed a memorable performance when he was in front of the camera, he was paying attention to what was going on behind it."

Gone Baby Gone deals with two inexperienced private detectives, played by Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan, who are hired to find a missing girl. The girl's mother is an irresponsible drug addict. On their soul-crushing search, they encounter another kidnapped child and enough red herrings to confuse anyone. When Affleck's character uncovers a conspiracy, he must decide between what he believes is right, and what he feels is best.

Unlike most conspiracy movies, this has something more than personal reputation at stake. When Casey Affleck decides whether to ignore or to uncover the lies, it affects much more than his own status in the underbelly of Boston's society. You leave the theater wondering what you are supposed to think, and what you are supposed to feel. Today, when we've seen every story told a thousand times, this is the only kind of tale that rings true.

The movie is unsettling, but so is the source material. Ben Affleck chose to adapt a very difficult story. It raises many questions, and answers none. When it come to a child's well-being, who knows best? Is love all you need? What is a mother's instinct worth? Is it right to enforce justice on your own terms?

Some of the characters' motivations are too simple or too vague. Morgan Freeman is a cop who lost his daughter, and now obsesses over all kidnapping cases. The walls of his office are decorated almost exclusively with newspaper clippings about the girl's murder; he's surrounded himself with his failure. This hints at a much sicker man than the one we see on screen. Meanwhile, Ed Harris' character is vehemently anti-child-abuse for no reason that is ever explained. It's a noble cause, sure, but when he admits he planted evidence on an abusive father, one wonders what made him so fanatical.

The movie is filled with unsavory images, some of which were deemed so offensive that moviegoers walked out of the theater. But they are taken from real life. People really live like this, and they really die like this. Ben Affleck only hints at the horrors that exist in the dark corner of a dilapidated house where a demented pedophile dwells. Yet the pedophile himself is childish and confused. At the end of a gun, he is as frightened as one imagines his victims might have been. All of these things are accurate, and all of them are true. They are hard to swallow, and Ben Affleck offers no explanations or apologies.

Ben Affleck, though born in California, grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His movie shows the parts of Boston where tourists don't go, where the richest people are drug dealers and even they live in squalor. "Real" Bostonians call Ben Affleck's hometown "The People's Republic of Cambridge," yet, in Gone Baby Gone, he charges fearlessly into the darkest corners of the city and exposes them to all eyes. Casey Affleck's Boston accent is so effortless you don't even notice it. These boys are Boston natives, even if they were born on the opposite side of the country.

Ben Affleck is also responsible, along with Matt Damon, for an organization called Project Greenlight. They intend to seek out and fund aspiring, talented filmmakers. If Gone Baby Gone is any indication, Ben Affleck has an eye for good stories and a talent for telling them. It's not unreasonable to expect him to distinguish himself more in the world of filmmaking than he ever did as an actor. Good luck, Ben.