The Promise not kept(On the film 'The Pledge')

(Note that this is for people who have already watched the film, and will thus contain spoilers.)

There are few works of art that can capture the essence of the human condition so perfectly as 'The Pledge' manages to do.

Jerry Black promises a family that he will find out who murdered their child. It is the end of his quite successful career, but Jerry plans to keep his promise. The first moment in the film that really caught my attention was when Jerry is talking to the woman about the drawing of the Giant who gave her Porcupines. Although Jerry is asking the questions at first, we see that the situation is soon reversed. The woman starts asking Jerry a lot of questions that bother him, such as inquires about his sex life, whether he hears voices or not(which as we see in this scene, he quite clearly does), and so on. A case that was only about a promise now becomes about something much more profound. It is now about a man who is trying to prove- more to himself than to anyone else- that he is not insane. And now, it is best to draw a link between two things that may otherwise go unnoticed. Remember how the mother of the child makes Jerry promise on the "salvation" of his soul that he will find the killer? Well, what you may have ignored as superstition plays very subtly and deeply in this film. Jerry's salvation literally does rest on him being able to find the killer.

We see how Jerry buys over the local store in the place where the killer is probably going to strike next. While here, he helps out a mother and child who are facing some troubles of their, and lets them move in to his house. Jerry's a nice man, isn't he? But is that all there is to it? On closer inspection, we are able to see the genius and calculating side of Jerry. 

Jerry had first seen the child Crissy drawing one morning in the diner run by Crissy's mother Lori. He talks to her a little, and already, we see that he knows(or perhaps even hopes in a way) that Crissy might attract the killer since she resembles the other girls who were victims. And when Lori and Crissy come running to Jerry's house one night, Jerry asks them to move in to his house since there are rooms he can spare. While them having come was only a co- incidence, now the ball is in Jerry's court. He knows that he can use Crissy to lure out the killer. These suspicions are confirmed when Jerry and the family go shopping one day. Crissy wants a red dress and Lori doesn't seem to think that it suits her. What Lori and Crissy don't know, and what we as viewers and Jerry do, is that all the little girls who had been killed were wearing red dresses at the time of death. The most obvious response from Jerry would be to agree with Lori that the dress does not suit Crissy, but he says that the dress in fact does suit Crissy. 

In a more subtle presentation of Jerry's motives, we see Lori getting quite intimate with Jerry. Now it is quite evident that Jerry who is probably twice Lori's age, feels uncomfortable by what is happening. At first, it seems that he is going to stop her before things go any further. But then, we see that he lets it happen. Is it because he wanted to have such a relationship with her or is it because not going along with Lori's plans might get in the way of his plans? Getting into such a relationship would also increase Lori's trust in him, thus allowing him to exercise more control over Crissy. There could perhaps be another explanation to the aforementioned scene. Remember how the woman who had asked Jerry questions had linked insanity to sexual inactivity. Was Jerry only doing this so that he could prove her wrong? 

Jerry's cold calculating self might already feel disturbing to some. But it's not simply a case of a Sherlock Holmes finding himself in a realistic modern setting. Jerry is not simply out for the thrill the case provides. This could have been the case at the beginning where Jerry still follows up on a case even though his career is over. But now, his motivations lie far deeper. We also see that it is not that Jerry is uncaring for Lori and Crissy. In fact, he does seem to enjoy playing the role of a father to Crissy. Jerry, Lori and Crissy seem to make one happy family. But then a question arises. Would a father ever place his daughter in the way of possible trouble? We need to then ask the question if trouble was in fact, possible. Jerry does seem confident in his ability to catch the killer before Crissy might get hurt, Some might interpret his decision to build the swing for Lori by the road where he can keep an eye on her supporting this hypothesis. But couldn't it also be that building the swing by the road would allow the killer to see- and perhaps know of- Crissy in the first place? However, in the scene when Jerry is running behind the Jacksons who have taken Crissy to church, it seems that Jerry places Crissy's safety above catching the killer. His expression when he imagines Crissy's death seems to support this line of thought. So, it seems that Jerry's decisions are not devoid of any compassion, but rather that he does not want Crissy to get hurt, but he is still willing to use her to catch the killer. 

In the masterful final sequence, we see the Condition of Man explained in a few minutes(yes, I'm allowed to use hyperbole). Jerry has somehow managed to convince a SWAT team to watch as Crissy is going to meet with the killer. It is a suspenseful moment and we can almost see Jerry's sanity slipping as tries convincing himself that the killer, is in fact coming. Some might say that the story used the Deus ex machina in the fact that the killer dies in an accident, But isn't that just how life is- determined by things outside of our control- and in this case outside of Jerry's- control? Even though Jerry had calculated all his moves, he could not affect things outside his reach, and these are the things that leads to the eventual scene. 

Everyone leaves and when Lori finds out how Jerry used Crissy, she hates him for it and we see a genuinely confused Jerry as the last of his sanity seems to slip away from his grasp. 

The very last scene is of Jerry talking to himself (it's the scene the film opens with), and one line that stands out is "she said it", implying that Jerry is trying to convince himself that as Crissy did talk of a Man who was going to give her Porcupines, it cannot all be in his head. But as we sit watching, we know that the battle is already lost. 

And as for the promise? Well, if the killer is dead, and no one knows about it, is the promise really kept? Perhaps this may not affect anyone else they all found their killer long ago. Even the parents from the beginning of the film must have believed the promise to have been kept. But for Jerry, it is not just a promise that is not kept, but also a mind that is lost in a world where reality and illusions seems to be the same thing. 

And if we think about it, who can really say that the people you see are really there, and that their voices that you hear aren't just voices in your head?

 P.S. Some motifs I found interesting but didn't mention: One, the religious imagery used by the mother when she makes Jerry promise and which I mentioned earlier. Two, the shop place where the killer hails from is called "Land of Christmas", a phrase you'd usually associate with joy. Notice how the girl sings the song, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so....Little ones to him belong." If a connection were made stating that the killer who hails from the Land of Christmas is Jesus, followed by noting the line the girl sings regarding little ones, it will then be seen that this was a clue linking the Land of Christmas to the killer. Also, notice how madness and uncertainty is a recurring theme throughout the film, from the time the first suspect is brought into custody.

 Oh, and don't forget about the woman who talks about the murdered child's art. She says that the art is simply the "imagination of a seven year old". Perhaps this idea that everything could be in one's own imaginings gets into Jerry's head at this point. 

Lastly, the theme of salvation is also a recurring theme from when the mother makes Jerry promise, to the Land of Christmas, and to Jerry's struggle in trying to not let go of his mind.
Oh, and remember how the porcupines are given as gifts to the little girls? Wouldn't holding a porcupine hurt a person?