Seite 192 [192]
OCR
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 distances 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 medium 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 determination. 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 psychological 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 colleague 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 quality 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 + 190 +
