I watched 'mystic river' yesterday. It has a rating of 8 in IMDB. The movie is about the life of three friends who grow together in the same neighborhood. They live in this neighborhood all their lives and how each of their lives turn out differently in the end. One boy named Dave is abused in his childhood. He is kidnapped by two men and held in a secret location for 4 days before he escapes captivity somehow. Another boy named Jimmie is the bravest in the group. He later becomes the head of underworld of the area. He changes after his return from jail when he finds himself responsible for his daughter who is left motherless. He fears that he may not be protecting and taking care of his beloved daughter well and chooses a more peaceful life for her sake.
The third one named Sean who later becomes a cop. He is successful and does well in service. Dave is always a bit fearful and acts paranoid. The story takes a turn, with the death of the Jimmie's daughter. He is destroyed by her death. He wants to find the killer of her daughter and punish the killer in his own way. He unleashes his gang who investigate for him. Sean, the cop is assigned to the job of finding the killer of the girl. He and his partner go around investigating.
The storyline of the movie is built around the anonymous criminal who committed the crime and how the crime spoils the friendship between three friends. Dave's character is always a little less confident and droopy. He was in the bar the night she was found murdered. He returns home that night with blood on his hands and his wife is shocked to see him like this. He explains that he had been mugged on his way home and he had attacked the mugger and sustained injuries. She believes him but in the paper finds no mention of death of any man.
All the local news channels are covering the murder of jimmie's daughter. Dave's wife suspects that her husband might have murdered the girl. She hides this little secret within herself even as she helps out as a support to Jimmie and his wife. The inspector also does his routine work questioning everyone who was in the bar that night and interviews Dave as well.. He doesnt really suspect Dave of doing anything. But slowly when they find the presence in the back of his car of someone's blood. The blood type from the sample matchs that of Jimmie's daughter, he becomes a suspect.
Meanwhile Dave's wife tells Jimmie of her fears that she fears Dave might have committed the crime. Jimmie takes this to his heart and asks his men to bring Dave to a bar where he would question him personally. Dave is drunk and Jimmie questions him. Dave tells him everything that happened that night. He had been returning home after staying in the bar when he saw a man molesting a boy in the car. He lost control and killed the man by repeatedly beating him.
This was the reason why he was blood stained when he returned home that night. But Jimmie wouldn't believe him. He kept pestering dave and promised to let him live if he told that he was the person who killed his daughter. In the end Dave tells him that he killed Jimmie's daughter even though he hadn't. Jimmie stabs and shoots Dave to death. Sean the cop on the other hand finds a breakthrough in the case. he finds an ambiguity in the 911 call made about the murder. he discovers that there was someone entirely different who had committed the murder. the girl was in love with a boy and his brother had killed the girl. as they were planning to leave for las vegas where they would get married. This boy was very possessive of his brother. So he and his friend had killed the girl.
Dave was a person who lacked confidence and loved his only son very much. He was destroyed by an incident in his past. That came to haunt him, making him murder a man abusing someone else. He was abondaned by his wife, who feared that he had killed Jimmie's daughter. It is unfortunate for Dave's son who lost his father at a young age and his wife who not knowing what all Dave went through, thought him to be the murderer. Jimmie who lost his daughter took law into his hands and unnecessarily killed his friend. It is a complex and well woven story about the relationships between friends and how it all changed when there was suspicion. You can argue that what happened in childhood to dave was the reason for everything that happened. This is an incident that affected not just Dave but all of them for they were never normal again. There is a reference to it in the end when Jimmie mentions how he felt that the three boys were trapped in the secret place, still unable to escape from it. It is a movie well worth watching. It is suspense filled. You feel sorry for Dave and his family.
