Crosses and Cages

Life often traps characters in heartbreaking situations. In the Film Mystic River the characters are trapped by life and love. After Jimmy' daughter dies he is trapped by the police, restrained fro, seeing her body and entering the crime scene. In the picture to the left you see Jimmy completely trapped and closed in by the police men. The closed in frame traps him with in the frame as well. the frame is close enough that only Jimmy and his cage of police fit in it. Jimmy's distressed face shows just how much pain he's in over the loss of his daughter. His love for his dead daughter is trapping him in a circle of grief, pain and loss. 

Even from before her death, his love for her trapped him. The fear of loosing her traps him, and continues to trap him through her death. In the shot on the left, Jimmy's daughter traps him in a loving embrace. His daughters body encases his head in a frame, keeping him where he is. Her slight smile indicates her knowledge of he departure, trapping him in ignorance until long after her death and he finds out why she ran away from home. This shot is a parallel shot to when he was trapped by the police, both times he is trapped by his love for her. 

From the very begging of the film, when the characters are still children, Dave s trapped. At the beginning when Dave is being abducted, he is trapped from that moment and from that point on. The shot to the right shows Dave's entrapment in the car. Not only his he trapped by the frame of the car, restricting his space within the frame, but He's also trapped between his two captors. The captors drive him away stealing his innocence and trapping his life.




Crucifixion is a constant theme throughout the film Mystic River. The characters trapped in the film are crucified by the end. Part of them goes through a painful death of crucifixion. To the left, Jimmy is shown with a cross tattoo on his back. The cross is the traditional method of crucifixion, making its symbol. The cross on his back shows the crucifixion of a part of him in the loss of his daughter. A part of him died, was crucified, along with his daughter. The cross is to show that part of him has died, and is dying.

Dave was crucified at a very young age. Most of him died when he was driven away by his captors. When Dave is captured in the car, the second of the captors turns around and shows a golden ring with a cross on it. This cross symbolizes the crucifixion of his innocence. The captors crucified him, turning him into a walking dead man for the rest of his life. The ring symbolizes the pain and suffering Dave went though with them. It shows that He died at this point in life.

From the very beginning Dave was marked for death. In the shot to the left Dave has on a bright ed baseball cap. It is the only bright color in the whole shot, consequently standing out and drawing attention. The red baseball cap is a mark, as if he was marked for death and crucifixion all along. The characters underwent crucifixion throughout Mystic River as they all ended up a form of death.