For a first crack at doing a psychological exploration of the movie, consider its very title: Prisoners. In my interview with the movie's screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski, I asked him about the importance of the title:

Just the idea it obviously has the double meaning of it’s about this guy who takes this captive and holds him prisoner, and obviously people are kidnapped and they’re kept prisoner, but it’s also that these characters are prisoners of their own psyche, their own mental decision making.

So not only the kidnapping of the girls, but also the turnaround of Keller taking Alex hostage, that's pretty obvious. But what about "characters are prisoners of their own psyche"? We already looked at Keller in this light the other day which you can read about here. Basically Keller is held prisoner by his survivalist mentality. Remember this quote: “The most important thing your grandfather taught me is to be ready.” Yet he was NOT ready and 'allowed' his daughter to be kidnapped. So at one level, he is imprisoned by his high expectations to be a protective father and husband. That opens up another layer of his psychological imprisonment: His rage. Keller is at his core a violent man. We see this emerge as his carefully constructed life and persona crumbles over the course of the story. It makes me wonder if one reason he quit drinking in his life leading up to FADE IN had something to do with anger control issues. Just pure speculation. In any event, that rage is there. It fuels his obsession with Alex - along with his sense of shame at not being ready enough to protect his daughter - and leads him into his downward psychological spiral in which he is willing to torture and nearly kill another human being. Those two emotions - shame and rage - have him shackled and overtake his logic. So it is ironic on multiple levels that he himself becomes a LITERAL prisoner at the end of the story. There's another way in which this theme of being a prisoner works and that's with Loki. Anyone care to take a crack at that?

My take on Loki Before the story happens... Loki grew up as a prisoner in a juvie jail, spending six years there. Now this is pure speculation, but I think he became a cop because he was a witness to the abuse -- not a victim. Maybe he felt helpless that he couldn't help the other kids (his "family") and felt an obsessive need to do something about it when he got out. At some point he met Captain O'Malley who became a father figure to him and took him under his wing. Loki became an excellent cop: he's solved every case he's ever been assigned. By the end of the movie... Loki has failed to protect Alex, he failed to find the girls sooner than he did (he missed them the first time he was at Holly's house), he was sort of responsible for Bob's death, and if not for Keller I don't believe he would have saved Anna. All this weighs on him by the end of the movie. He went from a perfect cop to not being able to save the people he wanted to save most. So he physically survived the prison. Went back into it, metaphorically. Failed. And forever on, his psyche will be trapped in a prison. A separate question: did Loki develop faith over the film or did he have it the whole time? Keller's line, "Pray for the best. Prepare for the worst," is used when the two are in Keller's basement, but then at the end, when he's talking to the forensic guy, Loki says those lines. And when he rushes Anna to the hospital, I believe it's the first time Loki prays in the movie/script.

Here's my rough notes I made of Loki's story line. * means the choice that was taken. Kidnapping. Captures Alex. Investigates Holly's place and the RV. Meets with the parents. 1. go by the rules. Keep Alex locked up as the law allows 2. * Loki pleads one more day to Cpt. O'Malley Father Dunn. Discover's Holly's husband behind the refrigerator; Keller tells Loki he heard Alex say, "they didn't cry until I left them."; pressures Alex 1. *calls Keller, telling him he can't go any further with Alex as a suspect 2. keep Alex in custody Visits the Millands; Tall Man escapes him; discovers Alex is missing (possibly got away), says Tall Man is the guy, but in doubt 1.* doubt? Watches the surveillance video of him questioning Alex. phone call about Bob Taylor always buying kids clothes; Father Dunn tells Loki about Holly's husband -- waging a war against God and taking the kids; After Bob breaks in the Birch's and Dover's, Loki investigates, writes down "open window"; discovers Keller's been lying (said he was helping police) and bag of lye in the basement, which is half gone. 1.*investigate Keller 2. investigate elsewhere Keller guilt trips him. Eludes Loki. Ticking clock: kids gone more than week are hardly ever found. Loki discover's Keller's father's apt building -- finds Keller there but gets call about Bob buying clothes and running off 1. continue to investigate Keller more and save Alex 2. *go after Bob Bob's house. Tells the parents their children are thought to be dead. Keller blames Loki 1. *feels guilty. Failed. 2. or not Bob draws a maze. Captain O'Malley questions Loki if this will work, instead of just questioning him more 1. *explodes on Bob, breaking his nose. Other cops come in, which leads to Bob's death 2. something else Loki thinks he blew any chance of finding the girls and wrecks his desk; pendant on Holly's husband matches Bob's maze drawing; gets call and discovers Bob wasn't the guy, just "playacting". Guilt over Bob's death -- ignores the forensic guy's question. "Open Window". 1. investigates Anna's window. Finds footprints and sock. Joy found and in the hospital. Only wants Joy's parents to see her (still thinks Keller can be a suspect?). Keller escapes him 1. *guesses wrong as to where Keller was going; Loki went to the apts. Finds Alex 2. Keller went to Holly’s house. Loki feels guilty that Alex was harmed, missed his chance to help him. Wants to go after Dover. O'Malley says no, go tell Holly. 1. *obey orders – go to Holly’s house 2. search for Keller At Holly's house. Hears cries inside and sees the maze pendant on Holly's husband from a picture. Kills Holly and rushes Anna to hospital 1. prays: Please, God, don't let her die." Is visited by Grace, Nancy and the two girls. Ghosts. Keller still missing 1. Pray for the best. Prepare for the worst. @ Holly's yard Hears the whistle

What I really like about the ending is it doesn't hold back any punches. Everyone becomes a prisoner. Keller/Nancy/Franklin are all going to face jail time. Nancy and Franklin are given a choice: literal prison by admitting their guilt or keep their secret and live in unbearable emotional pain. The two girls will become future a Alex/Bob, never able to escape their traumatic past. Even the other older siblings will be in a sort of prison. Their families are broken, and take Ralph for instance, he'll have to help provide for his struggling family since Keller was the family breadwinner, and they still struggled to get by. So add on all the help Anna will need, he'll most likely be her caretaker for the rest of his life, trapped into an existence by the circumstances. The ending is bleak for all those involved -- life in prison.

Other observations... Keller and Holly's husband were very similar. Holly even says so much -- you remind me of my husband, something about the eyes. -- both lost a child to uncontrollable circumstances -- both kidnap Alex -- both torture (Holly's husband would tell the kids they can leave if they solve all the mazes. They were impossible to solve.) --they both end up in their own cell. --both religious ... anymore? Re: RV I thought the RV having its own storyline was a nice touch. Was used as a home to travel around in and spread the word of God. After Holly's son's death, the RV was used to wage war against God and break families. Another thought I had, and I'm sure the screenwriter toyed with the idea, but why not go for an even more dreadful ending using dramatic irony (the audience knowing more than the characters), using both Loki's and Keller's poor choice of actions leading to their demise (Loki's psyche and Keller's physical) and have Holly escape free in the RV. Instead of having Loki go to Holly's, why not have him pursue a red herring leading to the whereabouts of Keller, like he wanted to. A sort of hubris thing associated with his perfect record as a cop. And for Keller, the last image he could see is exactly what Holly said she'd do, drop Anna's dead body in with him. I did find it ironic, when it came to "being ready", he failed once again and let Holly get the upper hand on him. Then, later as a lasting image, have Holly pull away in the RV. Of course, Alex would had to have died from his injuries, which was a possible consequence.

I do really like this screenplay and I think it's so well-constructed in so many ways, but the psychological journey doesn't come together for me. I admire Prisoners, but I always feel sort of empty at the end -- it builds to something that never happens. I guess I just want to have a strong reaction, a real feeling, and for me, the movie just sort of ends, without that. While everyone has been changed by this experience, I don't see that anyone learns anything at all, except maybe Franklin. No one seems to recognize that Keller turned into the villain, that he was doing the exact same thing that Holly Jones was -- Grace is still defending him as a good man at the end, and Loki's perspective just seems to be based on the law (minus judgment). My guess is that Keller emerges from the hole without any great realization about his own choices -- he will just see that Holly Jones, kidnapper of kids, put him there. I find she muddies the waters -- she's such a classic villain, and with all info about her coming at the end, the character obscures what Keller has done. Because she's the easy bad guy, there's no judgment within the movie on Keller. And there has to be, I think, for the movie to ultimately work. It's not enough for the audience to realize all these things. Either Keller, the protagonist, has to have some kind of epiphany or everyone else does around him, highlighting where he ends up.

In the screenplay used for this breakdown, Loki is hoping for a promotion and Captain O'Malley tells him he'll support him if he finds these girls. The juvie thing is interesting (from the movie, right?) because that changes his motivations from the start. So, based on the screenplay, I would say that Loki moves from "science" to faith. At the beginning, he strikes me as very straight-laced, very by-the-book -- he's a smart guy, an out-of-the-box thinker, but emotionally distant. His purpose is to follow the law, to do his job, and it seems to be the right course because he's never not solved a case. But then this case challenges all his fundamental beliefs and by the end, as you've pointed out, he's praying, racing against time and snow to save someone. Despite my issues with the ending (as noted below), I do love the final scene -- Loki is standing out there in the cold, completely alone, seemingly having failed because loose ends remain, and then this whistling comes out of the dark and quiet. And it's this beautiful moment - this sign, almost, and his new perspective, this combined POV of law-faith, is rewarded. And yet I still don't see him as the protagonist, or an equal protagonist with Keller. Not sure why that is...

Great observation, jem. It's a bleak story. Note how the geographical nature of the town, hard-bitten and economically distressed, and even the weather, gray and foreboding, reinforces the 'dark' nature of the narrative. I think you're quite right: Everyone involved has been and will continue to be 'imprisoned' in some sense of the word.

Thanks, jem, for that breakdown of Loki's involvement in the plot, targeting important beats where there is a shift in his attitudes and actions. When we first meet him -- eating alone in a diner on Thanksgiving -- we get a sense he is a state of Disunity. Whatever reasons for him having a lonely personal existence probably tie into his obsession with his work. And I imagine the importance of him solving all of his cases is in part about him trying to prove to the world -- and to himself -- that he is special and worthy of attention... and affection (which he doesn't seem to be getting on a personal level). Even his desire for promotion seems to be grounded in external validation. I believe at the beginning of the story, he feels like he has his shit together. He does not. He goes through a deconstruction process, losing his cool rationality, and reconstructs getting in touch with his raw emotions, witness his blowup with Bob. By the end, as you suggest, he is so disassembled psychologically, he is left to praying to God to save Anna's life. Is it faith he's exhibiting? Or is it more about desperation? I think more of the latter.

It's a matter of semantics, but in one key respect, the fact the story pivots from Keller's perspective to Loki's, time and time again, that suggests a Dual Protagonist narrative. But I can related to your feelings, mkm28: Loki does not seem on equal to Keller as a protagonist. That makes sense because if you read my interview with Guzikowski, who wrote Prisoners, you will see the story started out as a tale of the father character. Only later did it evolve into a two-hander.

Wow, jem, I resonated with both of your points. First off, Keller and Holly DO share quite a few experiences in their lives, as your list suggests. As to your alternate ending: Awesome! Super bleak and sets up for sequels!

mkm: So the feelings you had about the two children ending up safe was not enough to give you a 'real' sense of finality with the story? I wonder if that is precisely what Guzikowski was aiming for, a story diverging from the more typical positive Protagonist arc. Neither Keller nor Loki have that type of transformation. Both go through a considerable deconstruction and are 'reconstructed' by getting in touch with their respective impulses for violence. Not a positive trajectory. Perhaps that's a big part of your frustration with the script. It's not a uniformly happy ending. Yes, the kids are saved, but every adult figure ends up in some way 'less' than 'more'.

What happens with the girls is sort of irrelevant in the final analysis, imo. And I say that because it doesn't seem to matter, within the movie, what happens to the girls. We never see Joy again after Keller interrogates her in the hospital, and showing that Anna has survived is this momentary thing, like an afterthought, with much, much more time spent on Loki trying to save her. Would anything about the movie be fundamentally different if Anna had died? I think the answer is no because there's so little reaction to her survival. Re what bugs me, it's not that Keller suffers a negative trajectory. Rather, it's that Prisoners is a story of a man (men) coming completely undone, and none of the people who inhabit this world and share their lives ever seem to notice.

It's a fair point about the girls. They are a narrative device. Knowing the script went through at least 20 drafts, I would bet there are versions where Guzikowski spent more time with them as characters, but due to length of the script as it is, cut some of their storyline. But even if he only ever had this much content for them, clearly his focus is on these two guys and their deconstruction. As to others not noticing their change? What about Keller's son? He sees his father coming undone and doesn't know how to handle it other than trying to hold it together as best as possible. What about Franklin and especially his wife? The point is probably more apt when directed toward Loki. His actions in interrogation room with Taylor are unhinged and result in an unfortunate death. Maybe more of a response by his boss? Is the movie perfect? No. Only The Apartment is. ;) But this is one of those films which is as much, if not more, about evoking a visceral emotional response rather than jotting all the tees and dotting all the eyes. The fact it did the business it did with moviegoing audience suggests it succeeded on that front. But your points are valid on the whole and we should keep them in mind as takeaway for our own writing, especially to take care of every character in our stories with a goal toward making each one a multilayered, fully realized individual. Thanks for your comments!