Thoroughly impressive and thrilling, chilling depiction of a true story brought to the screen with emotion and study.

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2009)

Chageling is a wonderful film; a harrowing scenario stretched agonisingly out to two and a bit hours without a moment that is ever really without either fear, hope, pain or anything particularly uninteresting. It's a tale of dedication; of facing one's fear and truly persisting in what you know is just, even if everyone else seems to think otherwise. And boy, do a lot of supporting characters think otherwise; continuously trying to beat the lead back down, a pounding into submission; an assault on the emotions; a dangling of the proverbial carrot in front of them with the promise of their old life back, plus one thing that wasn't there before filling in for something that now isn't. Freedom and 'normality' is so close, yet justice and the righteous scenario is so far away.
The film is effortless; effortless in its progression from an everyday mother and son; to a disappearance; to a re-appearance; to a might-be study of madness; to the dedication of a detective and then onto the harrowing conclusion. You'll get angry; you'll feel sad; you'll feel frustrated, only not at the film itself, before settling with an emotion that is somewhere in between everything: a sort of acceptance. The lead is Christine Collins (Jolie), a supervisor at a local branch of a national telephone company whom lives alone with her son Michael in a small house in Los Angels, circa the 1920s. As a lead, we're led to believe she embodies a number of characteristics: individualism, professionalism, but most importantly, dedication. Very early on, a senior individual at the telephone company Christine works at commends her for the level of her recent work, and it is briefly established how well she's done in defying her, what we assume to be, ego driven male doubters whom work in the nether regions of the company.
Within the narrow corridors and wired-up rooms of her workspace, Collins bosses her female workmates and dominates what is hard, fast paced work that needs a lot of dedication, love and attention to get the verbal results she is given early on. What follows, rather interestingly, is a taking out of this supposed groove on Christine's behalf when the male led LAPD just about manages to sign her life away and put her on misery row. What was an office-set life of dedication against what might be perceived as male oppressors in a feminist-less set world is escalated into the rest of the world as the actual police department of the city of Los Angels, and then the government itself, is taken on by this one woman and her dedicated hunt for the mere truth.
Director Eastwood treats the supposed repression of a strong, truthful female voice in exceptional taste. He tells a plight, a journey through the grinder that sees police station interrogation rooms; asylum cells and prison execution chambers the locales for the ever searching reality of the situation. The film will mostly, for its first third at least, consist of men at the supposed peak of their respective careers telling the female lead just how wrong she is; how deluded she is and how correct they are. But she doesn't buckle; she knows what's what and she knows more than they do – she should, since she's smart, independent and she's the mother.
Changeling only gives us a brief glimpse of peace, tranquillity and normality very early on. The very little exposure the film gives us of Michael works in the film's favour, since there isn't really enough of a stone-wall chance to map onto exactly what this child looks like, including any distinguishable features. From here, the film rather cannily relies on the supposed bringing back of a boy, of some description, which Christine is told is her son, to act as the overall initial incident. If the boy is indeed her son, the film is a study of madness; if he is the incorrect boy, then we observe the film has a licence to go down a different path, that of a detective story so that the truth can be searched out. What actually transpires is that Eastwood takes us down both routes anyway. We go off on one for the scenes in which Christine is supposedly crazy while the film unfolds a would-be hard-boiled; whisky downing; bribe-rejecting; noir-infused detective on the other – one that looks as if he's waltzed straight out of another film and into this one.
As a physical representation of justice, this detective named Lester Ybarra (Kelly) is Eastwood's way of reminding us that not all men enjoy pushing women that have garnered praise and attention for defying what's expected of them back down into the doldrums. In regards to Christine's supposed madness, Eastwood shoots the scenes of her commitment in a particularly harrowing fashion. Additionally, Detective Ybarra's investigations lead him to an isolated shack int he middle of rural nowhere and the first things he notices upon entering the property are a cleaver and a knife on a table. Eastwood changes tact here, shooting the film like a horror piece. The slow burning sensation that turns the idea of loosing a son, and getting the wrong one in return, is developed from a misunderstanding that just needs to be sorted out to a real-time nightmare which suddenly comes complete with isolated shacks housing knifes and so forth.
Changeling is a scary film. Its premise to do with missing children and the 'replacements' that are incorrect is harrowing. But the film's inclusion of a certain male hatred of certain strong willed women that comes complete with a specific space in which those are rounded up and placed within is equally as frightening, only on an entirely different level. Eastwood directs this visually impressive period piece brilliantly, with a real taste and acknowledgement towards his subject matter; while Angelina Jolie shines through in what might be her best film to date. Changeling is most certainly worth the time.