Oldal 192 [192]
CANADIAN LANDSCAPES/ PAYSAGES CANADIENS
school bus accident changes the lives of a small community. As is often the
case in Egoyans films, old secrets and sins are revealed as the film tells the
poignant story of the aftermath through the fates of those affected.
In contrast to the communal aspects of The Sweet Hereafter, The Captive is
a family story, in which a nine-year-old girl is mysteriously abducted from her
father’s van while he stops for a few minutes to go shopping. The parents do
not know if their daughter is still alive, but the most likely scenario is that she
has been murdered. All the while, however, the viewer knows that the girl is
being held captive in a basement room by a particularly perverse figure who
has been watching the suffering of the girl’s mother for years with great relish
via a video surveillance system. He also develops a strange, twisted relationship
with the girl, both exercising power over her and clinging to her with a kind
of sickening emotional attachment.
The excellent performances authentically portray the mother and father’s
trials and tribulations and their various coping strategies. The mother distanc¬
es herself from her husband, holding him responsible for her daughter’s fate,
and the father refuses to see her in person, knowing that his presence would
only inflame her emotions. They only talk on the phone, an intermediate me¬
dium that protects them both from emotional outbursts. The film contrasts
the mother’s helpless grief with the father’s persistence in finding his daughter,
and in this respect builds on traditional gender roles: the mother is overcome
by emotional despair, while the father is characterised by action and determi¬
nation. This contrast not only shows their different coping mechanisms but
also follows the traditional image of male and female responses to trauma in
the narrative structure.
Another strand of the story highlights the compassionate attitude of the
police, the frustrations of the investigation and the emotional and psycholog¬
ical challenges involved, while we witness the police being almost completely
helpless despite their best efforts. The female police officer has a deep empathy
for the victims and is mainly portrayed as a psychologist, while her male col¬
league is on the wrong track and suspects the father of the crime. This flawed
approach leads to years of inefficiency and no tangible progress in solving the
case: the investigation proceeds at a snail’s pace until the sudden solution as a
result of the father’s persistence.
The flow of the story is driven by the kidnapper, a twisted and perverse
character whose portrayal in such a central role is a departure from Egoyan’s
typical cinematic world. While negative characters are almost inevitable in
any movie, and evil often lurks in the background of Egoyan’s films dealing
with historical narratives, such as the sinister Turkish army officer Jevded Bey
in Ararat and the war criminals in Remember, The Captive marks a new qual¬
ity of evil with its depiction of the kidnapper. Moreover, the girl held captive
and her parents are not the only victims: subscribers to a secret internet
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