Movie Review: Changeling

Categories: Drama, Movies | no responses

So, I made a deal with my wife tonight. She picks the genre, I’ll pick the movie. She watched Untraceable this morning so she said she wanted a crime drama similar to that. As I had not seen it, I had no idea what she was talking about. So, after running an IMDB search for crime dramas, I decided on Changeling. First, it’s directed by Clint Eastwood, whom I have respected as a director since Million Dollar Baby. I love watching Angelina Jolie on screen, which is what made me choose it to begin with. Though my motives were a bit shallow, I’m glad I chose it as I ended up learning about a very important piece of California history that I never knew.

The film begins rather dry, introducing us to Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie). She is a strong single mother of her 9-year old boy Walter (played by Gattlin Griffith). Christine works as a supervisor for a telephone switchboard. We get a feel for the relationship between mother & son during one scene at the beginning of the film when Christine picks Walter up from school & he tells her he got in a fight. During the conversation, mom tells her son that they “don’t start fights, but they finish them”. This one statement ends up not only being the theme for the movie, but really is a testament to the strength of Christine’s character as a woman in the late 1920’s.

So after we get introduced to our heroine & her son, the plot begins. Christine had planned to take Walter to a movie. Not long before they were to leave, she gets a call from work saying someone called off & she needs to come in & cover the shift. She tries to get out of it, but in the end, she decides to go in. While she is gone, Walter will stay home alone. She tells Walter that the neighbor will come over to check on things. Walter says he can take care of himself & without missing a beat, Christine tells him she knows he can. The neighbor will be coming over to check on the house. Once again demonstrating her intelligence as a woman/single mother raising a boy in the 1920’s. She then tells him there is sandwiches in the fridge & she will be home before dark. Unfortunately, this will be the last thing she will ever say to the young man.

Here is where the story actually begins. What starts out as a missing child case ends up exposing the rampant corruption in the LAPD during the 1920’s. I don’t want to go into much of it as I’m hoping to avoid potential spoilers. But, I’ll say this much, even though I grew up in California, I never realized how bad the corruption was back then. I know all aspects of politics are corrupt at some point or another. But if any of what they depicted in this film is true, the LAPD was completely out of control. At one point they find “Walter”. Christine takes one look at him & says that he isn’t her son. The LAPD insists that he is her son & she doesn’t know what she is talking about. How do you tell a mother that she doesn’t know who her own son is? I was floored.

So, after her son goes missing, the film then follows the rest of Christine’s story. In fact, several times toward the end of the film & thought it was done. I figured once her battle with the LAPD was over, so was the film. I was wrong. The bad part about that is that it made the film feel a little too long. I looked up the history on it & it seems like the film was pretty close. They omitted one major player in the whole thing, but considering it was focused on Christine’s story, I understand why. In the end, I’d say those are my only complaints. Other than that, the film was interesting. At the beginning of the film, I thought I would get bored because as I said, it started out pretty dry. Fortunately, once the story line kicked in, the writing was strong enough to keep me interested, if not to see how it turns out, then to see what the LAPD was going to do next.

If you have any interest in the history of Southern California or just like a good drama, then you will want to see this film. If you’re looking for something to make you laugh or maybe for an action thrill ride, then you will want to look elsewhere. Here is all the official stuff:

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Staring:

Angelina Jolie…Christine Collins

Gattlin Griffith…Walter Collins

John Malkovich…Rev. Gustav A. Briegleb

Michael Kelly…Detective Lester Ybarra

Synopsis:

Inspired by actual events that occurred in 1920s-era Los Angeles, Clint Eastwood’s "Changeling" tells the story of a woman driven to confront a corrupted LAPD after her abducted son is retrieved and she begins to suspect that the boy returned to her is not the same boy she gave birth to. The year was 1928, and the setting a working-class suburb of Los Angeles. As Christine (Angelina Jolie) said goodbye to her son, Walter, and departed for work, she never anticipated that this was the day her life would be forever changed. Upon returning home, Christine was distressed to discover that Walter was nowhere to be found. Over the course of the following months, the desperate mother would launch a search that would ultimately prove fruitless. Yet just when it seemed that all hope was lost, a nine-year-old boy claiming to be Christine’s son seemed to appear out of thin air. Overcome with emotions and uncertain how to face the authorities or the press, Christine invites the child to stay in her home despite knowing without a doubt that he is not her son. As much as Christine would like to accept the fact that her son has been returned to her, she cannot accept the injustice being pushed upon her and continues to challenge the Prohibition-era Los Angeles police force at every turn. As a result, Christine is slandered by the powers that be, and painted as an unfit mother. In this town, a woman who challenges the system is putting her life on the line, and as the situation grows desperate, the only person willing to aid her in her search is benevolent local activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich).