Losing a loved one can take years to recover, but what do you do when someone close to you tells you that this supposed loss never happened because this “dead” person never existed?

Directed by Joseph Ruben, “The Forgotten” is a science fiction and thriller film that is sure to make its audience jump off its seats in the many startling scenes it contains.

Julianne Moore plays the role of Telly Paretta, a mother who incessantly grieves over the death of her 9-year-old son, Sam.

Telly’s husband, Jim Paretta, surprisingly doesn’t seem to be as marred as his wife over the death of his son.

Often while alone at home, Telly meditates in remembrance of her son as she watches with teary eyes old films and pictures containing images of Sam.

As she follows this routine daily, one day she finds that the tapes and pictures have suddenly turned blank. Angered at this, she blames it on her husband, thinking he is doing this to try to help her to move on from Sam’s death.

After Telly calls her confidant psychiatrist Dr. Munce, played by Gary Sinise, she is utterly distraught when he tells her that she never had a son and that her cherished mementos have always been blank.

Both her husband and psychiatrist think she has gone delusional.

A bewildered and confused Telly runs out of her house like a madwoman and searches for anyone or any record that can prove her son’s existence.

Her search is a mere fiasco until she finds Ash Correll, played by Dominic West, who is the father of a little girl also involved in the same plane accident as Sam.

As Telly tries to carry on a conversation about his daughter, Ash has also lost all memory of his daughter’s existence.

Clearly, Telly is not hallucinating; yet how could it be that the whole world seems to be plotting to wipe away any memory of these children’s deaths?

Finally, after Telly rips off the wallpaper on Ash’s home office and finds that the gray, dull wallpaper was covering bright memories of what was once Ash’s daughter’s room, Ash is able to remember and cannot explain how he could have forgotten such a significant incident.

As they are the only ones in the world who understand each other, they team up and try to understand this whole mystery.

They find out that their children were never dead and were actually part of an experiment conducted by some nonhuman force that is able to violently suck people like vacuums into the sky at the blink of an eye.

As Telly and Ash try to recover both their children, they confront both human and nonhuman obstacles that keep the audience wanting to get to the bottom of this enigma.

This seemingly crazy experiment is never clearly understood throughout the movie, but it is also a mystery that everyone in the film is affected by it except for the resilient Telly.

Unlike most Hollywood suspense films that are usually written and played nonexclusively, Ash and Telly seem to have individuality and character: she’s a stubborn book editor; he’s a former pro-hockey player with a hot head and a drinking problem.

“The Forgotten” is a thriller with wit and clever maneuvering during the process of trying to regain these children, but the ending doesn’t seem to fulfill the film’s previous climactic scenes.

The ending suggests one of two things; either it suggests a sequel, or this ending was made to make the audience come to its own conclusions.

Still, with a fuzzy ending, this film is worthwhile if you’re in the mood to try and solve a mystery.

On Screen

What: “The Forgotten”: A mourning mother undergoes therapy to deal with the loss of her young son, but then is told that this boy never existed. Bravely, she investigates to uncover the truth.

Rated: PG-13

Starring: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise.

Bottom Line: An exciting rollercoaster ride that deceives with its ending.