Changeling

CHANGELING
UNIVERSAL
RELEASED 28 November 2008
At seventy-eight, Clint Eastwood has directed a fantastically gripping tale based on a true story. Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) plays a roller-skating telephone operator in 1928 Los Angeles. Bringing up her son Walter on her own (she explains to Walter that his father left as soon as the ‘box of responsibility’ arrived), Christine is called in to work overtime instead of taking her son to the movies. Telling her son to stay indoors, Walter replies, ‘I can take care of myself. I’m not afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of anything’. Inevitably, when Christine returns, her son has disappeared. The police are one step away from useless, and months pass with no trace of her boy. Out of the blue, it seems Walter has turned up in another state. Meeting his train, surrounded by press and the police, Christine greets the boy but instantly realises the police have made a mistake. This new boy is not her son. But the publicly-derided LA police force, led by Captain JJ Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), urge her to at least take him under her wing (‘take him home on a trial basis’, as if one child is the same as any other!), which she does while stressing to the police that he isn’t her son and they should keep looking. When even dental records, height charts, and school teachers don’t do any good, the despicable Captain Jones has Collins locked up in a looney bin to shut her up for good. Christine says,’ wouldn’t I know my own son?’, to which the doctor says, ‘you’re in no position to be objective.’ Fortunately, Collins has a guardian angel in the form of the enemy of the LA police force, community activist Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who brings the matter to public attention, bringing the corrupt police force to book and changing the way the city is run. But where is Walter Collins?
‘Changeling’ develops into a mystery that shocked California, and this 141 minute film is a treat from start to finish. Terrible injustice, corruption, and heinous crimes come together to create one of the saddest tales of the year. Of course it’s tragic to see the similarities between this story and the Madeleine McCann case that’s still open. But unlike the Portugese police who were unfairly labelled inept by a racist British media, the LA police force of the 20′s was rotten to the core, involved in murder and racketeering on an unprecedented scale. Christine Collins quest for truth and justice shook the system up irreversibly.
1920′s America is perfectly captured by Eastwood with a subtle sepia film stock treatment to make everything look that bit older and bleached. Trams camber up the main roads, boys wear flat caps, and radio is the internet of the day. Eastwood shoots some stunning work, alongside director of photography Tom Stern, and the visual effects guys take eighty years off of Los Angeles.
Angelina Jolie follows her traumatic performance as Marianne Pearl in last year’s hostage drama ‘A Mighty Heart’ with another, even better turn as the distraught mother. With the summer hit ‘Wanted’ providing her best blockbuster role to date and now this, Jolie is really pushing forwards into challenging areas. Although gossip rags feature endless rumours of her private life, there’s no doubt that the real interest lies in where she might develop professionally. Can she extend her rich vein of form?
John Malkovich also gives a resurgent performance, and the whole supporting cast are memorable – Eastwood really is an actor’s director.
Perfectly paced, with a script that sparkles by J.Michael Straczynski, ‘Changeling’ is a horror story with an uplifting message of hope and change.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE