[Review] Where is my child?

Speaking of my favorite movie genres, I should admit liking psychological-thriller movies. The confession doesn't sound so 'me' but it's true. Rather than watching bloody slasher movies or mainstream supernatural horror movies, I like watching movies which are less-violent, yet thrilling enough for me to get goosebumps. There are some movies that make me think so hard about the mystery portrayed in the movies and some movies have twist at the end which make me yell "What the fuck did that old lady do to Caroline?!" 

I'm not into Annabelle, The Conjuring, Insidious (though I, in fact, have watched it), Child's Play, or whatnot; I'm into something which could frighten me in another way. Slasher movies showing blood pools or bisected bodies are disgusting for me. They're not thrilling; they disgust me to death. If I may say, I can bear with Final Destination 1, but the following sequels of the Final Destination line just end up making me nauseous, as if I'm stuck on a roller coaster ride of 15,000 feet with 27 loop tracks. Psychological thriller movies might not frighten you as if you see specter walking down the stairs in your house, or as if you're chased by a grotesque child-like psychopathic living puppet, but the movies are able to increase my heartbeat rate and haunt me with so many questions--Who is she? What happened to Julia? Is she really insane? Where is her son? 

Two of my favorite psychological thriller movies are The Forgotten and Flightplan. Both movies have female character as the protagonists and portray their struggle to find their missing child. What differs The Forgotten to Flightplan is the antagonist; The Forgotten plays with sci-fi thingy by featuring man-figured alien as the antagonist, while in Flightplan the protagonist has to face the real human antagonist. In general, both movies share similar interests; both movies' protagonists are female and they have to struggle to find their missing child. 

theatrical poster for The Forgotten

Let's say.. you thought you had lost your child in a plane crash, and one day your spouse told you that you had never had a child, while you believed that you had had once. Then you realized that you had some physical evidences to show that you had had a child and you collected the evidences, only to find that your child wasn't in the photo you knew well you had taken with your child. There were no evidences to support your arguments and people started thinking that you were out of your mind. What would you feel? 

The illustration I wrote above is what is illustrated in The Forgotten. Telly Paretta (played by Julianne Moore) has to deal with the death of his son, Sam, and one day her husband, Jim (played by Anthony Edwards) tells her that they have never had a son. Telly insists on saying that they have had a son, only to realize that she has no evidence to support her statement. Jim suggests her being sent to hospital for being delusional and it drives Telly mad that she runs away. Telly goes to a park where she meets Ash whom she knows as the father of Sam's friend who also died in the plane crash. Telly stays at Ash's place for a night, only to realize that Ash doesn't admit having had a daughter before and thinks that Telly is insane, later calling the cop to arrest her. After the cop comes to arrest Telly, Ash comes back to his room and finds children's drawing on his wall, indicating that he has actually had a daughter before. Ash regains the memories of his daughter and he runs to rescues Telly. National security then pursues the two as the two hides from the pursuit. Things become more complicated as Jim eventually does not recognize Telly at all and a stranger follows Telly and Ash everywhere. It is eventually revealed that the disappearances are caused by 'them' (whom I consider the aliens) and they do it as a project to determine the bonds between a mother and her child, whether or not the bonds could be cut. In a dilapidated hangar, Telly confronts the 'agent'--one of 'them' and asks him to return Sam. The agent refuses and urges Telly to erase all the memories about Sam. Telly refuses but the agent finally succeeds in erasing Telly's memories about Sam. The agent, testing whether or not his project has been successfully done, asks Telly about Sam and from her answer, Telly apparently knows nothing about Sam but one thing: her pregnancy. Telly remembers her pregnancy and that memory leads to all the memories about Sam. The agent is then taken up to the sky, indicating his failed project. Telly then goes to the park and eventually meets Sam who is playing with Ash's daughter, with Sam knowing nothing about his disappearance. She hugs Sam before letting him play with his friends and sits on a swing, next to Ash who is apparently oblivious to what has happened. 

The movie has successfully given me creeps, not because of the appearance of aliens in the movie but the mystery behind the disappearance of Sam. When watching the movie for the first time, I positioned myself as Telly and Ash, as if I had a child and my child suddenly disappeared, leaving no evidences or traces to track. My thoughts were full of questions. Who has kidnapped Sam? Is Telly really insane? What is really happening? Why don't people believe Telly and Ash? What happens to those who know what is actually happening after they are taken up to the sky, abducted? I got the answers as the movie came near to the end. When the movie reached its resolution--when Telly meets Sam in the park and hugs him, I felt like shedding tears. The reunion of mother and her son. Well, that's so touchy. 

If you're not into aliens and abduction by unknown creature, then Flightplan could be an alternative choice. Starring Jodie Foster as Kyle, a widow with a daughter, Flightplan's plot goes around the struggle of Kyle in finding her daughter on board airplane.

Theatrical poster for Flightplan

On a flight to US, Kyle (played by Jodie Foster) wakes up, only to find that her daughter, Julia, is missing. Kyle searches for Julia and asks the passengers whether they have seen Julia. However, no one remembers seeing Julia with her and Julia is not registered in the passenger manifest. Kyle can't find Julia's boarding pass, making her extremely panic. While insisting on saying that her daughter is on board, people start thinking that she's delusional. Her instinct as a mother tells her that her daughter is on board, somewhere in a part in the airplane, and she has to save her daughter.

The ending?

Oh, I won't tell how the movie ends, just like what I did earlier when explaining The Forgotten. For those who have watched the movie should have known the ending and as a clue, well.. the ending is not a sad one or a tragic one.

Both movies share the similar thing; it's a story of a mother's struggle to find her child. Basically, it's about mother's love. Love and mother. Well as a child, I do believe both words are closely linked to each other. Love is mom and mom is love. It was kind of too late for me to realize that what both movies try to tell me is actually about mother's love--how mothers would always protect their children in any way a person can be protected. Whether confronting an alien or crawling on the upper compartment of plane cabin, mothers would do anything to protect their beloved children. Mothers would dare to die to save their children.

At last, I dare to give both movies 8 stars out of 10. The choice is.. well, it depends on your preference of who should be the antagonist. If you are into sci-fi and aliens thingy, then The Forgotten would be a good choice and if you're more into drama and human being antagonist, then why don't give Flightplan a try?