Changeling

I have never been a fan of Angelina Jolie. Not as bland of an actress as say, Julia Roberts, but certainly nothing special. I am however, an enormous fan of Clint Eastwood and his ability to tell a story better than most any filmmaker working today. At the age of 78 he continues to be one of the best in the business. His newest film, "Changeling," is based on the true story of Christine Collins (Jolie) and the disappearance of her nine year old son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith).
March 10, 1928 was just another Saturday for Christine Collins, a Los Angeles single mother who needed to go into work while her son stayed home listening to the radio. "I can take care of myself," Walter tells her on her way out of the house, and in 1928 who would have thought otherwise? But Christine enters an empty house that evening and like any mother would, she immediately calls the police to report her boy's disappearance. "We can't dispatch anyone for 24 hours," an uncaring officer tells her over the phone. "We just don't have the manpower or resources." He tells Christine not to worry and that Walter will most certainly turn up by morning but this is no comfort.
After five months of desperate searching, Christine's prayers are answered when police Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) strolls into her office to say, "Your son is alive, Mrs. Collins." Jones is clearly more interested in the good press this will yield the unpopular department than he is in reuniting mother and son. So much so that the boy Christine meets at the train station (Devon Conti) is not her son. In spite of her insistence that this is not Walter, Jones tells her that she is surely mistaken and that she should take the child home "on a trial basis" until she finally comes to accept that this is Walter. Little details, such as this boy being a full three inches shorter than Walter are explained away by an LAPD hired doctor. "The spine can actually shrink from stress," he tells her. But Christine is not taken in by it and this quiet non-confrontational woman takes on Jones and the rest of the corrupt LAPD as she continues the search for her son. Offering very public support is Reverend Gustav Brieglib (John Malkovich). On his weekly radio program he champions Christine's cause and speaks out against the dirty cops who have covered the truth. This is not enough to keep Jones from having Christine incarcerated in a brutal psychiatric ward under the watchful eye of Dr. Jonathan Steele (Denis O'Hare). Steele offers to let Christine go if she signs a sworn affidavit stating that the stranger in her home is her son and that the LAPD has done nothing wrong. She will not give in and the struggle continues.
"Changeling" is a film interested in the details and like Collins, Eastwood and writer J. Michael Straczynski see this through to the end. In this way it is reminiscent of David Fincher's "Zodiac." We are given not only a thorough portrait of Collins herself, but also of the investigation into the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, spearheaded by one of the few good cops in LA, Detective Lester Ybarra (a very good Michael Kelly).
For the first time, I was truly impressed with Angelina Jolie. Her work her is terrific. It is a well written role and she makes the most of it. She shows us a woman who begins with no interest in rocking any boats or exposing police corruption, but simply wants her real son back. It is in the scenes in which she interacts with the LAPD replacement child that she and the film are most effective. It is shocking that this could have really happened and the strangeness of this situation is not lost on Eastwood or Straczynski.
The only element of this film I really had trouble with was in its depiction of the LAPD, simply because Jones and Chief James Davis (Colm Feore) seem to be painted with strokes that are far too broad. The roles are written and played with a kind of bold faced one dimensional evil that just doesn't ring true. For all I know, Jones and Davis really were this way, but the performances of Donovan and Feore just don't come across as believable. I must make mention however of Jason Butler Harner's work as the psychotic Gordon Northcott. He provides depth to a role that could have ended up being cartoonish in the wrong hands.
"Changeling" is a very good movie and another notch in Clint Eastwood's belt as a filmmaker. It is not a happy tale certainly, but unlike "Mystic River" or "Million Dollar Baby" (both great films themselves) this does not send you out the door depressed. 8.5/10.