A fantastic, powerful film

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2010)

Changeling story has been described as being so extraordinary that it's impossible to make up. Changeling is a powerful film, which has multiple stories for audiences to sink their teeth into: a family tragedy, police corruption, a story about a serial killer, a political campaign and a trial movie just to name a few. It is a film that was overlooked by the Oscars, like The Dark Knight was in 2008.
In 1928 Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) is a loving single mother to 9-year-old Walter (Gattlin Griffith). When she is called into work as cover Walter disappears, with Christine missing him for five months. When the LAPD say they found Walter, giving the media a great story. There is a catch: the boy was not really Walter and Christine starts to campaign against the police who claims she is insane, an unfit mother, etc. With the aid of veteran campaigner Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), Christine proves that the police knowingly gave her the wrong boy and bring down a corrupt police force and mayor. Add this done with backdrop of the investigation of the Wineville Chicken Coop murders.
Changeling had everything you would except from a award contending film: great actor, writing and direction. It had a number of themes and ideas that would show that it is a real film of merit. Some ideas of the film are similar to L.A. Confidential, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Girl, Interrupted, many good serial killer films and the electro-shock treatment scene reminding me of Requiem for a Dream. Under the skillful director of Clint Eastwood he captures the periods with all set designs and costumes, whilst using more modern film techniques, like steady-cam and CGI: it was a little like David Fincher's Zodiac. After some slow moments in the beginning Eastwood is able to pick up the pace and he is able mix all the story elements together like it was effortless. He is able to film some really dark scenes, particular the way the scenes in the chicken coop were effectively creepy and scary, particularly how he used silhouettes; but so too were the scenes in the psychopathic ward. Eastwood shows how a political campaign functions on the ground and how the police would go about discrediting someone, using their own doctors and pretty much lock them up without any due process. Eastwood knows how to make a film and Changeling is one of Eastwood's best films as a director.
Though Eastwood is a very talented director, he had a great script by J. Michael Straczynski, who is best known as a sci-fi writer, writing Babylon 5 and comic books, particularly Spider-man and Thor. For Changeling its report that he up 6000 historical documents and legal transcripts, with 95% of the script based on it. He writes a brilliant screenplay filled with character and ideas. As well as exploring the idea that the LAPD was corrupt (which still seems to be an issue e.g. the Rodney King beating), the police doing everything to discredit any critics, particularly women, and look for quick results and not willing to admit when they made a mistake (which is still true today). There are other ideas, such as the sociological idea that insanity is a social construct, that when someone is marked insane all their behaviour is seen through that lens. There are ideas of using the pulpit as a political platform, which of course men like Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu and Pope John Paul II used. We get to see the make-up of a serial killer, someone who is creepy and insane, but also very cold and cunning, carefully planning his crimes. The idea of a serial killer is also nothing new, they have always been around in some form. Even the title Changeling has meaning because it in fairy tales a changeling was a soulless or empty child. The other meaning is a mystrical creature like a troll or an elf steal a human child and replace it with one of their own, thereby it ends up being raised by humans. Hopefully Straczynski can write more films like this and get to fit more ideas in his sci-fi work.
There is a great cast in the film. Jodie in my opinion is a terrific actress and I prefer to see her in more roles like this, compared to action roles like Salt and the Tomb Raider series. There is a little bit of shouting which is expected from a Oscar nominated performance she was still very convincing and powerful as a mother fighting a powerful enemy and determined to find her son. Her performance felt natural, a woman who was intelligent, committed and wrong. Malkovich's performance was a lot more understated then his performance (usually psychopaths) and because of it I think its his best. He too plays his role with real conviction, a dedicated campaigner who wants to support Christine but also has his own agenda. He should have had more award nominations for this role. Jason Butler Harner was effectively creepy and insane as a serial killer who does not care about what he did and Jeffrey Donovan was charismatic and oozed hatred as the police Captain who plays one of the main antagonists of the film. The child actors were also very good in the film, particularly Eddie Alderson as a very scared and emotionally damaged young teenager suffering emends guilt.
Overall 2008 was a great year for films and Changeling can easily join the ranks of films like The Dark Knight, Wall-E and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas as the high points.