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Film Review
Flightplan
Distributor: Buena Vista
(2005)
Starring: Jodie Foster; Director: Robert Schwentke
Review by Jenni van Wageningen
Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is an American aeronautics engineer living in Germany. When her husband suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances, she and her six year old daughter fly back to New York. Her husband’s body accompanies them in a sealed coffin in the hold.
A few hours into the flight Julia disappears into thin air while her mother is sleeping. Kyle frantically combs all nooks and crannies of the plane. When it becomes clear that no-one else has noticed the little girl, and that her name does not even appear on the passenger list, Kyle becomes so frenzied that we start to wonder about her mental stability. A thorough search of the plane by the staff also reveals no trace of the missing child. The plot swerves in yet another direction when Kyle claims that two passengers of Middle Eastern appearance were the very ones watching her flat the evening before.
Eventually Kyle becomes so disruptive that the captain places her in the care of the air marshal. By this time the other passengers have become quite agitated. The fear of potential terrorists adds to their unrest, and sympathy for Kyle begins to evaporate. When a well-meaning but misguided therapist tries to calm her, suggesting that her daughter died at the same time as her husband, Kyle is pushed to the edge and takes decisive action.
Clever cinematic techniques in the opening scenes have blurred the boundaries between what is real and what is part of Kyle’s memories or fantasies. We are unsure whether we are seeing flashbacks or hallucinations, whether Kyle is sane or unhinged by grief.
Plane travel today can involve uncertainty and anxiety. Fellow travellers are not a community, but hundreds of strangers from different walks of life in a closed environment. All this can create a breeding ground for suspicion and fear, particularly in the light of September 11.
Director Robert Schwentke explains that the story was ‘an opportunity for me to make a puzzle movie full of twists and turns that is also extremely emotional. I liked the idea of a movie that largely unfolds in a single contained environment. Everything stays within the claustrophobic space of the plane, trapping the audience along with the characters, leaving them both struggling to solve the mystery.’
Thrillers always involve a tussle between those with evil motives and plans and those who bravely struggle to oppose them. This is such a universal theme, and one with biblical overtones, that we take it for granted.
The unexplained disappearance of a loved one is an agonizing experience. If a vulnerable child has gone missing this is every parent’s worst nightmare, particularly in a world where children are kidnapped and abused. Flightplan capitalizes on some of our deepest fears and emotions for its nail-biting impact. .
As in the movie Panic Room, Jodie Foster once more convincingly portrays a desperate mother who is determined to find and save her child, no matter what the cost. Kyle’s deep maternal instinct drives her to search tirelessly, ignoring the pity, scorn and antagonism of the crew and passengers.
This powerful love of a parent is a theme found in many movies and stories, and it is also a major biblical theme. In an age which has become self-seeking rather than self-sacrificing, stories of single-minded love and courageous rescue from certain death continue to have a strong appeal. Perhaps this is because they echo, however distantly, the need all of us have to be rescued and protected by the One who is stronger than ourselves.
While this is a tense and well-crafted psychological thriller, it does rest on a plot that threatens to unravel on occasions. It pays not to raise too many questions, but just enjoy the flight!
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