Loyola, Leanne Marie C.

GEETHIC – S15
Gone Baby Gone: A Critical Analysis
Synopsis
Gone Baby Gone is a mystery thriller movie that follows an explosive case of a
missing four-year-old girl named Amanda. Two private investigators, Patrick and Angie,
were hired by Amanda’s aunt to look into the abduction case occurred in a Boston
neighborhood. By using Patrick’s connections in the Boston crime underground, they
discovered that Amanda’s inept mother was involved in drug cases such as being a drug
addict and a drug mule together with his boyfriend Ray for a Haitian drug lord named
Cheese. They believed that Cheese may have kidnapped Amanda in exchange for the
money stolen by Amanda’s mom. After Ray was murdered, Patrick and Angie joined other
police detectives, Remy and Nick, in investigating the case and to arrange a trade of the
money for Amanda. Police Captain Doyle showed Patrick a telephone transcript of
Cheese setting up an exchange for Amanda. The exchange at a nearby quarry was
botched, killing Cheese and Amanda was believed to have drowned. Captain Doyle,
whose own daughter was also killed years before, took responsibility and went into an
early retirement.
As Patrick and Angie got further into the investigation with the police, they faced
drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they were about to solve their case, they
collectively dealt with issues of whether the means justifies the ends, and whether the
end goal is morally the right thing to do. They were confronted with a moral dilemma that
could tear them apart.
Ethical Dilemma
In Gone Baby Gone, a lot of ethical questions were raised as the movie
progressed. However, the main ethical issue pointed out on the last part of the film where
it was revealed that Amanda was alive and was living very happily with Captain Doyle
and his wife. The telephone transcript that led to the botched exchange for Amanda was
forged and Amanda’s death was staged. Captain Doyle was part of the kidnapping all
along; he attempted to convince Patrick that Amanda was better off living with them than
with her, drug-addicted, negligent mother. Patrick has to decide about the further life of
the kidnapped girl Amanda.
This revelation of Amanda, to live with Captain Doyle for her own well-being,
presented the audience with the same moral dilemma Patrick struggled with: Should
Amanda be returned back to her inept mother? Or Should Amanda stay in a loving
household that illegally acquired her? What is “home” for Amanda? There is no denying
that Amanda’s mother is an unfitting parent. She is selfish, steals money, uses drugs, and
ignores her child’s welfare. On the other hand, Captain Doyle intended to provide Amanda
a better life and a loving family, although he did kidnap her. This dilemma extent to which
ends can justify the means, the power of parentage, and what a moral obligation truly
entails.
Possible Actions to the Issue
• As a person of duty, Patrick should call the police about the abduction. Despite the
flaws of Amanda’s mother, she is still her mother and what Captain Doyle did was
a crime. It is simply wrong. Amanda must be returned to her mother. In which, in
the movie, he eventually did.
• Patrick should not do anything and let Amanda live her life in a loving and caring
household with Captain Doyle. Amanda deserves to have a loving parent that will
look out for her well-being. After all, when Amanda was returned to her mother,
her mother continued to be a terrible mother and left her child with Patrick to go
out for a date.
• Amanda shouldn’t be in either of the households. Patrick should call the police for
the kidnapping and also investigate Amanda’s mother and question her capabilities
to raise a child. Patrick should call the social services to help Amanda have a family
where she will be loved and cared for in the right way.
Decision to the Issue
Through the lens of deontological ethics, Patrick, a person whose job is to
absolutely perform his duties, it is only right to call the police and report Captain Doyle for
his crime of kidnapping Amanda. Kidnapping is against the law, and is morally wrong.
And I agree with this. Kant argues that we ought to “act only in accordance with that
maxim through which your can at the same time will that I become a universal law”. From
this point of view, the person’s behavior can be discussed as moral when any other
person can act the same way in similar circumstances. With this principle of categorical
imperative, Patrick should act like any police officer should do in situations when criminals
kidnap children. It is act of simply from duty that has genuine moral worth. One would
think that the first option fits this perfectly.
With the 2nd maxim of Kant which states to “act that you use humanity, whether in
your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never
merely as a means”, Patrick acted moral because he respected the dignity of Amanda.
Children are sent back to their families in spite of the criminals’ intentions. In which in the
movie, Amanda was indeed sent back to her mother. Since Patrick respected the dignity
of Amanda, he should also question the mother’s capabilities as a duty of a concerned
citizen. Patrick should call the social services to help Amanda have a family where she
will be loved and cared for in the right way. I think the 3rd possible action to the issue is
the closest to a Kantian approach.

References
Johnson, Robert and Cureton, Adam, "Kant’s Moral Philosophy", The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/