It's a lower class Boston neighborhood. There's a little girl missing and her mother is Helene McCready (Amy Ryan). Lionel (Titus Welliver) and Bea McCready (Amy Madigan) hire P.I. couple Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to find her. They normally don't do these types of cases. However the case isn't all that simple. Helene is a drug addict. Police captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) is in charge and doesn't care for the newbies. Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton) are the cops running the case. Soon they discover that Helene had ripped off a drug dealer named Cheese.

Ben Affleck has a real eye and ear for these characters. This is a good murky crime drama. Better still, Casey Affleck gives a real break out performance. Amy Ryan is just as good as the white trash mother character. I'm only disappointed with Michelle Monaghan. She's a little stiff and couldn't dig deeper than what's on the surface. I wish they let her pull a knife at least. I like that the story isn't a straight line. The story takes a break in the middle and it has some good twists.

The story drives me crazy because I can't help feeling for that little girl. This is a sign that the performances are really quite good. Casey Affleck plays a guy who is moral but tightly wound. His Catholic affiliations are always on the front burner. Do we as a society have a right to intervene when the parent of a child is just despicable. Is this grounds for trying to set things right. I believe what is good about both the book and the movie is that there are no simple answers and we have to, at times, deal in some absolutes. The performances here are very good and I liked that violence is not laughed off. When Affleck's character kills a man, he is haunted by the image and fear for his mortal soul. There are, of course, more questions but I am not going to throw in any spoilers. The performances are quite outstanding and touch at the heart.

The tough private eyes Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) was raised in a poor and dangerous neighborhood of Boston, and works with his partner and girlfriend Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) generally tracking missing losers in debt. When the four year-old Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien) is abducted from her apartment, her aunt Beatrice 'Bea' McCready (Amy Madigan) calls the police and the press, and the case is highlighted with the spots by the media. Then Bea hires the reluctant Patrick to work in the case because he is not a cop and based on his great knowledge of their neighborhood. Meanwhile Capt. Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman),who lost his own daughter many years ago and is in charge of the investigation, assigns detectives Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Pole (John Ashton) to give the necessary support to Patrick. After interviewing the addicted low life mother of Amanda, Helene McCready (Amy Ryan),Patrick goes to a bar and discloses that Helene was on the streets with her boyfriend Skinny Ray Likanski (Sean Malone) dealing and using drugs on the day Amanda disappeared. Along his investigation, Patrick faces smalltime criminals, drug dealers, pedophiles and corruption, facing a moral issue to solve the case.

"Gone Baby Gone" is an impressive debut of Ben Affleck as director of feature. The story is original, supported by an outstanding screenplay with several plot points and a polemic conclusion, and the performances are great. The moral and ethical codes of the lead character Patrick Kenzie seem to follow his thoughts, when he says that people cannot choose, but they are fruit of their town, neighborhood and family. His polemical and controversial decision in the end, right or wrong, selfish or right, is certainly another attraction in this great film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Medo da Verdade" ("Afraid of the Truth")