Excellent Eastwood and Awesome Angelina Conjure cracking Changeling

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2009)

When Christine Collins' (Jolie) son goes missing, she waits for months and when receiving a phone call her life is changed by a boy claiming to be her son.
This is the reason Angelina Jolie is famous. Forget all the rubbish in OK magazine and remember her acting career. Oscar performance in Girl, Interrupted aside, this is a sublime piece of acting and her finest to date. Jolie makes her character passionate, determined and opinionated and one of the most memorable mothers of 2008. An Oscar should be on the cards. Her performance was so good she made my arm shiver in a roasting cinema. Not only is Collins a memorable protagonist, she is a beacon of hope, she never gives in and presents herself in the face of adversary. Outstanding.
The supporting cast of Malkovich, Donovan, Griffith, Conti and a particular terrifying turn by Jason Butler Harner help make this a solid cast in a solid consistent drama.
Based on a true story, Clint Eastwood brings the dramatic events of 1928 alive with a simple but highly effective use of direction. The high shots and slow moving sequences help cement the story to the gritty ground.
This film isn't afraid to tell it like it is with a sharp depiction of mental hospitals, electric execution scenes and a shivering concept of murder.
The costume design and settings help depict the time the narrative is based. Juxtaposed with the issue driven storyline and you are watching a sharp and dramatic period film that makes you feel as though you are right there in the heart of all the controversy.
The issues regarding the representation of the police are unbelievably articulate. Not only does this film raise a valid point about how the force went about their business, it is written in such a way that is entertaining and exciting, and this is a period drama which turns into a gritty crime thriller come the end.
Changeling is a fine representation of the late 1920s which is helped by a fine central performance, a realistic and dramatic narrative that makes you think about law and the way lives were lived 80 years ago, and a consistent sophisticated style of direction by Eastwood, who is becoming a legend behind the screen as well as in front. All praise Clint Eastwood.