Don’t Say a Word(2001)

Plot Summary

• In 1991, a gang of thieves steal a rare $10 million gem. The gem was deposited into the bank's safe by an armored escort. The gang attacks the bank after the armored escort leaves. The gem was deposited in locker number 1798 and the gang only steals that particular gem. The gang exits the bank in under 2 minutes and set up an explosion in a van to create a distraction, while they escape in their getaway cars. In the process, two of the gang double cross their leader, Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and take off with the precious stone.Ten years later, on the day before Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas), is invited by his friend and former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young lady named Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium called the Bridgeview Psychiatric Hospital. Sachs says that Elisabeth is an 18-year-old girl who never hurt a fly but is suddenly acting very violent and aggressive. Elisabeth has injury marks on her wrists and puncture wounds on her arms and elbows indicating heavy drug use. In their first meeting Elisabeth responds by saying that Conrad wants what "they" wanted. This puzzles Conrad as he does not know what Elisabeth is talking about. Elisabeth promises to never tell anyone, forcing Conrad to leave and go back home.Meanwhile a woman in her 20s has been found dead in the New York's Hudson River. An autopsy reveals that her neck was snapped into 2 by human hands. Detective Sandra Cassidy finds similarity in this death with a body of a man found 2 days earlier.Having been released from prison on November 4, Patrick and the remaining gang members break into an apartment, which overviews Nathan's apartment, including his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) and daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). Aggie has a plaster in her right leg and her mobility is severely restricted. That evening, Patrick kidnaps the psychiatrist's daughter as Conrad was busy having sex with his wife in the other room. Conrad finds that Jessie is missing (he finds that the chain to the front door of their apartment has been cut) when he cannot find her at breakfast time the following morning. When Conrad tries to call 911, he finds that the line has been hacked by Patrick. Patrick says that he has kidnapped Jessie as a means of forcing him to acquire a 6-digit number from Elisabeth's memory. Conrad realizes that the kidnappers can look directly into his apartment and probably have a camera installed inside the apartment itself. Conrad is given till 5 pm of that day to extract the number from Elisabeth. Conrad knows that they cannot call the police as their phone lines are tapped. As Conrad makes his way to the hospital, he finds a burner phone in his car. Patrick lets Conrad know that he is being kept under observation every step of the way.Conrad breaks into Sachs' office to go through Elisabeth's files. He figures out that her PTSD is real, when she saw her father killed in front of her eyes. He believes that Elisabeth is faking her symptoms as she wants to be inside the hospital as she believes that somebody is after her. She has been to 20 different hospitals in the last 10 years. This suggests that Elisabeth is a brilliant mind that could fool 20 trained doctors over such as long period of time.As Nathan visits Elisabeth, she is reluctant at first, but he gains her trust later - especially when he reveals his daughter was kidnapped and will be killed if he doesn't get the number they want. Dr. Sachs admits to Nathan that the gang who kidnapped Jessie also kidnapped his girlfriend to force him to acquire the number from Elisabeth. Louis Sachs is then visited by Detective Sandra Cassidy (Jennifer Esposito) who reveals to him that his girlfriend has been found dead.Meanwhile, Aggie hears Jessie's voice and realizes the kidnappers reside in the apartment nearby. The kidnappers send one of them to kill Aggie while the others take Jessie away. Aggie sets an ambush and kills the person sent to kill her.After Nathan takes Elisabeth out of the sanatorium, she begins to remember past events. It is revealed that Elisabeth's dad was a member of the gang that committed the robbery ten years ago and he double crossed them and took the stolen gem. However, other members of the gang later found him and ordered him to reveal where he had hidden the gem, pushing him in front of the train in the subway. The gang members were arrested immediately after that and Elisabeth escapes with her doll, where the gem was hidden. She also remembers that the required number, 815508, is the number of her father's grave at the Hart Island and her doll has been placed beside him in the coffin. She stowed away on a boat that was taking her father's coffin for burial in Potter's field on Hart Island, where the grave digger helped her put the doll, Mischka, inside.Nathan and Elisabeth steal a boat to reach Hart Island. The gang members track them down and demand that Nathan gives them the number they want. Elisabeth reveals the number and Patrick orders his companion to exhume her father's coffin. Patrick finds the doll and the gem hidden inside it. He then decides to kill Nathan and Elisabeth, but Detective Cassidy arrives before he can shoot them. Patrick's companion is shot by Cassidy, but Patrick manages to wound her.Taking advantage of the confusion, Nathan takes the gem from Patrick and throws it to a nearby excavation machine. Patrick goes to recover the gem, but Nathan triggers the mechanism which covers Patrick with earth, burying him alive. Nathan is then reunited with his wife and daughter, and it is implied that Elisabeth goes on to live with the Conrads.

Storyline

• A group of thieves steal a rare gem, but in the process, two of the men double cross the leader of the thieving group, Patrick, and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later, prominent psychiatrist Nathan Conrad is invited to examine a disturbed young woman named Elisabeth. Patrick immediately kidnaps Nathan's daughter, forcing Nathan to attempt to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret number which will ultimately lead Patrick to the whereabouts of the precious gem that has eluded him. — Anna In 1991, a team of audacious thieves performed the perfect heist and stole a rare $10-million gem. One long decade later, the idyllic life of the prominent Manhattan psychiatrist, Dr Nathan Conrad, shutters to pieces when a ruthless member of the same gang abducts his precious little daughter, Jessie, demanding an unexpected reward. Now, if the good doctor wants to see his child again, he must do everything in his power to extract a vital six-digit number from the clouded mind of Elisabeth Burrows: a troubled young patient with a long history of violence and failed treatments. — Nick Riganas