SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 93 Discussion - Prisoners

shadow_priest_x said:
Upon thinking about it, I think I agree with @Strange King that he was not actually mentally disabled. For one, he was able to get a driver's license. For another, that just seemed to be a cover story by the Evil Aunt, when the reality was that being abducted and abused and for years on end fucked him up psychologically.

One could perhaps argue that the end result was the same--a fractured mind--but I don't think there was any baseline mental deficiency that existed before he was taken.

As I said earlier to Ruthless, I think at the end of the day his silence was just a plot device designed to allow the story to play out, but one whose basis seems flimsy.

He talks to Loki under duress at the police department, and he even speaks to Keller when Keller confronts him in the parking lot. Hell, he even talks to the black mother when he asks her to help him. And yet, for some reason he can't manage to eek out a word when Keller asks where the girls are? Why is it that ONLY THEN he loses the power of speech?

Think about it. It doesn't make sense.

So all that leaves is him somehow having both the strength and the desire to stay silent and protect the Aunt while being tortured, and that to me is equally implausible.
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I think for the movie he is now under that evil ladies complete control. Stolkholm syndrome but its unique because there is not alot of info on kids being abused and staying with the torturer. He never once in the whole movie betrays her and is even aloud freedom. Driving, walking the dog and he never thinks about escape. He is loyal to her
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Through a stroke of luck only though, right?

Loki goes to visit Holly Jones because he finds Alex. And while he's there, he notices the picture with the husband with the maze necklace, who he discovered in the priest's basement totally on his own without Keller's involvement.

So Keller's actions eventually leads Loki to Holly Jones's place, but not because Keller actually intended for that to happen.
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Definitely.

But it is intriguing that what Keller does plus Loki's suspicion of Keller end up meshing together in a way that allows for the daughter to be saved. Keller, of course did not wind up saving his daughter in the way that he intended (battering Alex until he revealed what had happened), but he did have a hand in his daughter being saved. If he had left things alone with Alex and his "aunt" we have little reason to believe that Loki and co. would have caught wind of what was going on or at least not before Keller's daughter was killed.

The fact is Terrence Howard's daughter did manage to escape independent of anything Loki or Keller did, right? So there and then you know Leo is going to get busted but the thing is I'd say there was a high probability Keller's daughter would be dead before she was taken down.

Keller's actions are unwittingly key because they lead Jake to Leo's house at that critical time and in doing so, his daughter and his lives are saved.
 
I don't see why the driver's license is such a point of contention.

I see retards on the road everyday.
 
Holy smokes. I need to get in on this thread.
 
Strange King said:
I think for the movie he is now under that evil ladies complete control. Stolkholm syndrome but its unique because there is not alot of info on kids being abused and staying with the torturer. He never once in the whole movie betrays her and is even aloud freedom. Driving, walking the dog and he never thinks about escape. He is loyal to her
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I'm glad you brought up the part about him having freedom. That also seems strange.

So she kidnapped him, imprisoned him, abused him . . . and then later decided that it was okay to just let him go out into the world and live his life, with no fear that he would say anything to anyone?

That also struck me as unlikely.
 
jeicex said:
Holy smokes. I need to get in on this thread.
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Judging by number of posts, it is now the most popular thread in Club history. Halloween held the crown with 255 posts, but Prisoners has surpassed it.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
So she kidnapped him, imprisoned him, abused him . . . and then later decided that it was okay to just let him go out into the world and live his life, with no fear that he would say anything to anyone?

That also struck me as unlikely.
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It jives if he's become complicit over the years.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Yeah, I mean it does seem like that's what the film is trying to say. I'm just saying that it seems far-fetched.
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It's why this thread has gone so long. Accepting some stuff as a plot device or straining reason in order to suspend any disbelief.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
That's well-said.
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I just rewatched next week's choice and was trying to imagine what would drive the conversation in a way this week's entry has enjoyed. After all this activity that thread's gonna be dead in comparison. :(

Still can't wait to hear people's opinions on it though. :D
 
Cubo de Sangre said:
I just rewatched next week's choice and was trying to imagine what would drive the conversation in a way this week's entry has enjoyed. After all this activity that thread's gonna be dead in comparison. :(

Still can't wait to hear people's opinions on it though. :D
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In terms of discussion power, I'm sure Clockwork would've been the top pick. Kubrick always gets people talking.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
In terms of discussion power, I'm sure Clockwork would've been the top pick. Kubrick always gets people talking.
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Yeah. It's rich with subject matter and technical execution with the costumes, sets, dialogue, score. I like the chances of it getting another nomination. I'll just need to stack the deck with worthless films (eg. Redneck Zombies). :cool:
 
shadow_priest_x said:
I'm glad you brought up the part about him having freedom. That also seems strange.

So she kidnapped him, imprisoned him, abused him . . . and then later decided that it was okay to just let him go out into the world and live his life, with no fear that he would say anything to anyone?

That also struck me as unlikely.
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Like i said that was stolkholme syndrome and honestly it is likely. Look at the family's that have been found where the dad is fucking all the kids their whole life and someone finds out and the story gets out. The first thing people think is why didnt they escape.

When you are under that much fear you do things you wouldnt normally do. I remember asking my teacher why the jews didnt fight back in full force against the nazis especially when they knew they were going to die. This question came up after a story about 4 jews being lined up to get shot with one bullet. I thought i would of fought, i mean im going to die anyway.

My teachers response was that some would think no way is this happening to me and that fear had taken ahold and they couldnt break it.

Its not hard to believe that a person that has lived his whole life with his captor wouldnt leave. I mean there are soldiers that are tortured that change sides.

You apply enough pressure and brainwashing and you have that character.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Yeah, I mean it does seem like that's what the film is trying to say. I'm just saying that it seems far-fetched.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ring-13-kids-dreamed-reality-show/1056366001/

These people were finally caught but this shows you how abuse can take a hold of you. Some accept it as if thats the only life they know.

What i find hard to believe but it happens is when a group of weird people get together and do weird shit.

Examply. There was a story out of NY about 5 years ago that 14 kids ages from10-17 all got together and raped a woman and her son and then made the son fuck his mother. This is the world we live in so i can accept that guy accepting and even loving that evil woman
 
Sorry for the necro but rewatched this tonight.

Loki researches Keller's past and finds a newspaper story about Keller's dad 'committing suicide' while Keller is home. No note is found.

Did anyone else catch this? I think the implication is Keller killed his dad.
 
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