Review: Changeling (2008)

Angelina Jolie Heads An All-Star Cast in Eastwood Film Set in 1928

Nov 10, 2008

After many successful movies in past years, Clint Eastwood does it again, with a tale of a mother desperate to find her missing son, in Depression Era Los Angeles.

Hard working single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie, once again in a possible award potential role) works a demanding job at a local telephone switchboard supervisor in 1928's Los Angeles. Doting on her son daily, Collins gets called one weekend, to work some much needed overtime, and leaves her son in the safety of their suburban home. Upon her return ,she finds her son missing, possibly abducted, triggering a series of whirlwind emotions as to the fate of her only family.

After being asked by the burgeoning LAPD of the time, to wait 24 hours before officially reporting her son missing, Christine begins a throrough search for her son, and launches a crusade with the intent of finding her boy. Five months go by, and suddenly the capable police force contacts her with good news: her son was located several states away. After much pomp and circumstance, the police announce a press event to reunite mother and son, so they may live happily ever after. That hope gets dashed by one sudden realization...

At first being bullied into accepting this young stranger into her home, Collins begins a series of numerous inquiries into the possibility of the police launching a new investigation on the whereabouts of her child, while feeling at odds as to the young stranger in her house. Soon thereafter, she realizes that swimming against the powerful current that is the semi-corrupt LAPD, may prove to be a much more difficult hardship, than to lose her child.

Based on a story drawn from the 1920's headlines surrounding the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, writer J. Michael Straczynski (creator of the popular Babylon 5 TV series) provides highly respected and high profile Hollywood icon Clint Eastowood with a poignant story of emotional turmoil and psychological turbulence, about a mother's unwavering fight to locate her own flesh and blood. Refusing to bend to the pressure of a corrupt police force which refuses to admit its own errors, and their attempt to save face in light of such errors, Angelina Jolie once again displays an excellent range of acting not seen from her, since her well deserved win for 1999's Girl Interrupted. Though the film makes no excuses for the police's actions, the audience can't help but root for this forlorn character, whose grasp of the situation is anything but ludicrous. Her uphill climb towards righteousness takes both herself and the moviegoing public through a personal and legal process they won't soon forget.

A well rounded cast of excellent actors complete this company, and each (both protagonist and antagonist alike) deserves a round of applause. Oscar nominee John Malkovich steals the show once again, as no-nonsense Presbytarian pastor Gustav Briegleb. His character goes off on, well, Malkovichian extremes, displaying outrage on the lack of due process, that would make most city halls shaking in their boots. Briegleb's role in the film, is one of an enemy of the police force, a beacon for good, who seeks to expose the full extent of the police force's incompetence and corruption. The charisma Malkovich exudes onto the screen once again hints at yet another possible Academy nomination.

Representing the corrupt police force in the film, are Jeffrey Donovan (from USA Network's Burn Notice) as stubborn and proud Captain J.J. Jones, and Canadian leading figure Colm Feore (Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Trudeau, Pearl Harbor), as Chief of Police James Davis. As insurmountable proof of their error in locating the right child becomes evident, these two men stop at nothing to cover their tracks, even if these actions involve burying an innocent woman in a mountain of scandalous accusations and humiliation.

Clint Eastwood, by now a seasoned director specializing in excellent source material (Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, et al.), brings the magic home again with this film, convincingly conveying a tale of hardship, hopelessness and redemption, all of it without coming off as too manipulative. Relying heavily on a historical background story laced with criminal elements, Eastwood provides his cast with a rich environment, with which to explore the reaches of human endurance, when faced with a full circle of hope, sadness, despair, and then hope once again. Jolie truly shines in this film, as does Malkovich and company. For the many masses of moviegoers who will feel outrage at the sight of misguided authority once seeing this film, this project acts as a beacon of possibilities, in an age when most authority figures and organizations must defend themselves against all sorts of scandal and negative publicity.

This movie is the first honest and outright contender in the upcoming Oscar race. It just feels good to see Eastwood in top form, and mastering such a difficult, yet honest topic, with grace and dignity.

8.5 out of 10, for an excellent ensemble cast, and a mastery of the topic by Eastwood, once again.

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