Not Forgotten (2009)
Set near the US-Mexico border in Texas, Not Forgotten tells the story of a family who's child is kidnapped and her father's (Simon Baker) attempt to find her, as his own dark past slowly comes to the fore.
Not Forgotten is an intriguing film. Anyone with a passing interest in the occult and in particular the ritualistic cult of Santa Muerta (Saint Death) - a female personification of death and the journey to the afterlife - should find this quite enjoyable. It's not all about mystical cults though. The film takes in the aforementioned kidnapping, sex offenders, police procedure, drugs and the Mexican mob, in a heady cocktail of mystery and suspense.
Although paced quite sedately, it's still involving and this allows the atmosphere to build making the infrequent scenes of violence come over all the more shocking, including a gruesome, sadistic scene where Baker slashes a suspect repeatedly with a broken bottle in order to extract information regarding his daughters whereabouts.
The film is well acted from Baker, Paz Vega as his wife and Chloe Moretz as the kidnapped girl, as well as all the oddball characters that come and go throughout. The story certainly doesn't unfold as you think and the outcome isn't one you can predict after twenty minutes.
Pretty good.
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