Five to Watch - Movies About Missing Persons

“Searching” is in theaters now and I’m going to see it myself tonight. So this brought me to this theme. I selected five films, where people are reported missing, that I think are worth watching or are somehow overlooked

In the Valley of Elah
A retired military investigator works with a police detective to uncover the truth behind his son’s disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq. The movies does an excellent job of showing that post-traumatic stress syndrome is not an oddity, but rather a growing problem in an army of young men whose job requires to be quick on the trigger. The movie belongs to Tommy Lee Jones, as the grieving father. And Charlize Theron as the determined detective. Both turn in outstanding performances. Jones shines, playing a man who has spent his life holding in his emotions and can’t change now, even as his world is falling apart. Theron radiates strength as a woman trying to survive in a sexist police department where all her male colleagues are certain she slept her way into her detective’s job.

Changeling
A grief-stricken mother takes on the LAPD to her own detriment when it tries to pass off an obvious imposter as her missing child. It’s a terrific story based on true events, has outstanding performances and is very well directed by Clint Eastwood. Angelina Jolie is great as her character fights, what seems to be at first a lost fight, for her son in a world vontrolled by men.

The Vanishing (Spoorloos)
Dutch couple, Rex and Saskia, stop at a service station to refuel. Saskia never returns. Three years later, Rex’s obsessice quest to find her is taken to unprecedented mania, when he starts to receive taunting letters from her abductor. The cat-and-mouse game between the two men ratchets up unbearable tension. There is also an American version, with Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges, but it’s not as good as the Dutch version.

Breakdown
A man searches for his missing wife, after his car breaks down in the middle of the desert. It’s a great thriller that keeps you second guessing until the end. And it’s fast paced. Very much underrated.

The Texas Killing Fields
In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective teams up with a cop from New York City to investigate a series of unsolved murders. This film might never find its audience, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great film. I did like it, a lot. And think it’s underrated and much overlooked as well. I loved Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in this film.