When frontier medicine woman and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett) sees her teenage daughter, Lily (Evan Rachel Wood), kidnapped by the Apache brujo Pesh-Chidin (Eric Schweig), she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones) in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.
Pesh-Chidin and a dozen of his followers (who have violently stormed off the reservation) ravage their way south, ritualistically killing settlers and taking their daughters to be sold into sex slavery in Mexico. Samuel, who has lived as a Chiricahua since leaving his family, uses magic and rituals in tracking the brujo. Pesh-Chidin, who himself uses psychic powers and engages in black magic as he rages forth, kills indiscriminately and wears photographs of his victims on his jacket.
The Missing might seem at first to be standard western fare, but the tension and evil emerge as the film progresses. It narrowly avoids the usual trappings of a Ron Howard/mainstream film, and The Missing has some intriguing moments of witchcraft and is worth checking out for the performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Eric Schweig alone. You can grab this gothic western thriller HERE.
