I was interested in seeing Changeling when I first heard about the movie several months ago.  The fact that it was based on a true story made it more interesting to me.  I was glad when the movie ended up coming to the theater here so that I would be able to see it.

In 1928, Christine Collins was a single working mother raising her son Walter alone.  One Saturday she was called in to work to fill in for someone who called off.  She left Walter at home, saying a neighbor was going to be checking in.  When she got home from work, Walter was gone.  She looked around the area for him and then called the police, only to be told that they wouldn't do anything until he had been gone twenty four hours.  The police didn't have many leads and then after five months, Christine was told that Walter had been found.

The Los Angeles police had received a lot of bad publicity, so they set it up for the press to be present when Christine was reunited with Walter.  Christine was sure right away that the boy wasn't Walter but she was pressured by the police to take him home anyway.  Christine remained convinced that the boy wasn't her son while Captain J.J. Jones and the police insisted that he was Walter.  When Christine wouldn't drop it, Jones accused her of not wanting to accept her parental responsibilities before having her thrown into a mental hospital.  Reverend Gustav Briegleb, a man who used his radio show to try to expose corruption in the police department, found out what was going on with Christine and worked to help her.  

Changeling was based on the true story of the disappearance of Walter Collins in 1928.  I had never heard of Christine or Walter before learning a little about the movie.  I did know before seeing the movie that it was based on a true story.  I decided not to try to look anything up at that point, but I did after seeing the movie.  From what I have read, some things were changed or condensed for the movie.  It seemed to be fairly true to the real events based on what I have been able to find out.  I did find that there were some conflicting reports about what happened to Christine after the time covered by the movie.

Changeling dealt with a very upsetting subject.  Children disappearing isn't a fun subject and unfortunately it still happens.  In 1928, the police didn't have all the resources that they do now to find missing children.  I don't know any actual statistics, but I'm guessing that a lot of those type of cases weren't solved.  If something like this happened now, where a child went missing and was thought found only to have the parent say it wasn't the right child, then more scientific things could be done to prove the identity either way.  At one point, some very disturbing things that were ultimately connected to Walter were shared.  Those things weren't shared in an explicit way, but it was made clear what happened.  

The missing child aspect of the story was upsetting enough, but what Christine went through just trying to find Walter was infuriating.  This happened at a time when women were still looked down on and basically thought to be too emotional to think straight.  She had condescending, arrogant  police officers telling her that she was just too distraught after the ordeal to be able to recognize her own son.  Captain Jones produced a doctor who had explanations for everything, including how Walter could be several inches shorter.  The police force saw her as a problem that they just wanted to go away, so Jones arranged it for her to be locked up in a mental hospital.  She met another woman in the hospital who told her that several of the other women were there because they were problems for the police.  All Christine wanted to do was find her son.  When she wouldn't stand by when the police refused to admit that they had handled the case wrong, she was locked up in a mental hospital and vilified in the press.  She had to go through so many horrific things and somehow she found the strength to not give up and keep fighting to find Walter.  That determination to find her son ultimately caused her to expose all kinds of corruption in the police department.

I thought that there was a decent amount of mystery in Changeling connected to what happened to Walter.  He was just gone when she got home from work and there was no sign of where he was.  Once the police got involved, they really didn't have many clues to work with.  Even once the police claimed that they had found Walter and staged the reunion, I still felt that there was mystery to the movie since Christine was sure the boy wasn't Walter.  That kept the mystery of what happened to Walter going as well as starting one about who the other boy was if he wasn't Walter.  As the movie progressed something else also developed that added more mystery to what was going on.  The mystery was compelling and kept me wondering how things were going to work out.  I did feel like there was a decent amount of suspense in several scenes.

Changeling did not have much action, which may disappoint some viewers.  It did have a slower pace as time was given to all the different things connected to what was going on with Christine and Walter.  I didn't have a problem with the slower pace even though a few scenes did seem to drag just a little bit.  Some people might be bored by the slower pace.  I think the movie would have suffered and the story wouldn't have had the same impact if things had progressed faster.  There was some implied violence at one point that was a bit disturbing without making the movie violent overall.  When Christine was taken to the mental hospital, she was hosed down and subjected to an invasive exam.  Those things were shown without getting graphic or showing too much, though a lot of Christine's skin was visible.  Those things, as well as some minor swearing, got the movie rated R.  A few characters used the word that rhymes with luck.

The majority of Changeling was set in Los Angeles in 1928.  The costumes and settings looked like they fit the time period.  Street cars were still running around the city and the cars that were shown looked right from what I know of them for that period.  By 1928, women had more rights and some had legitimate jobs.  Christine worked as telephone operator supervisor.  She was shown at work a few times and the switchboards were shown.  Christine and the other supervisors would travel around the room where all the operators were working on roller skates.  I have no idea if that was really done, but it seemed like they could move around a bit faster.  The original music was created by Clint Eastwood and I thought it fit in well though I have no idea if it was authentic to the period.  

Changeling was first and foremost about Christine and her struggle to find out what happened to Walter.  She was a single mother in 1928, something that wasn't that common at the time.  Early in the movie it was mentioned that Walter's father had left and that was the only reference to him.  Christine had a job as a supervisor and was thought well of by her boss and coworkers.  She was a kind woman who got tougher in her effort to find her son.  She wasn't trying to cause anyone any trouble.  She just wanted to find her son, something that I think was very reasonable.  When she wouldn't accept the wrong boy as her son, the police tried to brand her as an unfit mother trying to avoid her responsibilities who also had a mental problem.  Christine was a very strong woman and it was disgraceful what she was put through.  Angelina Jolie gave an amazing performance as Christine that was very believable.  It was strong, emotional and very powerful.  I know that some people don't like her for whatever reason.  Some may judge her acting based on some of the less serious parts she's taken, like in the Tomb Raider movies, and not think she can do anything else, but she can.  She became Christine, and there was a realism to the anguish and distress that she went through over what happened to Walter, probably because Jolie is a mother.

Walter seemed to be a well behaved young boy for the most part, though he had gotten into a fight with another boy at school.  He was only shown in a few short scenes at the beginning of the movie, so Gattlin Griffith didn't have as much to do.  Gustav Briegleb was the preacher who had heard about Christine's search for her son and started talking about it on his radio broadcast.  Gustav used the broadcast to expose corruption in the police department.  Once it was clear that the police were trying to discredit Christine, he started to help her.  He did seem to care about her and want to help, but he had his own reasons for doing it as well.  I thought that John Malkovich was good in the part.  It was a bit different and more subdued than many of his other parts.  

Christine's boss, Ben Harris, was only shown a few times so Frank Wood didn't have a lot to do.  It was made clear that he thought a lot of Christine.  He seemed like a kind man.  Several different police officers were shown, most of whom didn't have much to do.  Chief James E. Davis really wasn't actively involved in Christine's case, but he was shown to want the whole situation to go away.  He was more concerned about the image of the police department than anything.  He was around enough to clearly be a jerk.  Colm Feore was fine in the part.  

Captain J.J. Jones was the officer in charge of handling Christine's case.  He was arrogant and condescending to Christine, refusing to take her concerns seriously.  He just looked at her like an annoyance and potential embarrassment to the force.  He refused to even consider that he and the other police officers might have made a mistake in identifying Walter.  He didn't act like he thought much of women in general, especially ones like Christine that were more independent and dared to question him.  He was horrible.  Jeffrey Donovan was very good in the part.  Detective Lester Ybarra was one of the officers that had been working on the case to find Walter.  He wasn't as bad as some of others and he actually did something on his own that made a huge difference.  Michael Kelly did a good job with the part.  Sanford Clark and Gordon Northcott were characters who turned up later and ended up being important.  I'm deliberately not saying anything else about them.

Main Cast

Jeffrey Donovan - Captain J.J. Jones
Colm Feore - Chief James D. Davis
Gattlin Griffith - Walter Collins
Angelina Jolie - Christine Collins
Michael Kelly - Detective Lester Ybarra
John Malkovich - Reverend Gustav Briegleb
Frank Wood - Ben Harris

Clint Eastwood - Director

Changeling was a very good movie that deserves to be seen even though it isn't a happy story.  What Christine was put through by the police when she just wanted to find her son is horrible and very upsetting.  Fans of the cast should give the movie a chance.

This review is part of CaptainD's 2008 Good Movie Write Off.

Angelina Jolie Movie Reviews
Kung Fu Panda ~ Mr. and Mrs. Smith ~ Shark Tale ~ Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ~ Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ~ Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life ~ Wanted ~

Recommended: Yes