As Engaging and Powerful As It Can Get!!

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2009)

Changeling has Clint Eastwood donning the director's hat and Angelina Jolie in the lead role. The movie is set in the year 1928 and is based on a true story. Being a Clint Eastwood fan, it is with great expectations that I went and saw this movie. A couple of hours later, the movie ended and there were a plethora of emotions inside of me. Yet another film by Clint Eastwood had had a deep impact on me! The struggle of a woman to find her lost son is a long grueling search that turns into a fight against a corrupt police force and an immoral establishment of the city of Los Angeles in the year of 1928. The film highlights the grave injustice the ordinary citizens had to face during that time by the very establishment that was meant to serve and protect them.
If you thought that L.A Confidential showed the dark side of the Los Angeles Police Department then Changeling shows it as a living hell where the words - justice and morals didn't exist in the dictionary. That such travesties happened in the most powerful democracy in the world is both shocking and shameful.
Changeling is as engaging a drama as it can get! An interesting story is brilliantly executed. The effort put in by the screenplay writer is clearly evident when during the run time of 139 minutes, not once do you feel that the plot is dragging and saying anything too much or too less. Clint Eastwood's school of cinema is often conventional and focuses on the story. Changeling too is a story well told. On one hand Clint shows the shallowness of a corrupt system and on the other hand he shows the strength and perseverance of a mother which serve as a wakeup call to set things right in the system.
It is the toughest challenge to base a movie in the 1920s and make it seem real and the last time it was done well was in the 2001 Tom Hanks starer 'Road to Perdition'. It is the brilliant cinematography in Changeling that gives the film that highly authentic feel in which you are submerged and lost in those 2 hours, witnessing first hand, the mystery unfolding. The backdrop of the city of Los Angeles is after Angelina Jolie, the most important character in the movie. Changeling is high on production values! The film is A + on production values be it the artwork, the cinematography or the costumes and makeup of the characters. It says a lot when you drape the sexiest woman in the world with loose fitted garments and make it seem real!
And let's talk about Angelina Jolie. I, for long have maintained that she due to her sexy body and those luscious lips she has got more than her due and is overrated as an actress. But now, after having watched this movie, I eat my words! From frame to frame Angelina dominates with her intensity and her subtlety. One feels the excruciating pain and desperation of her character. Like in that horror of a scene when you jump out of your seat crying for help when she is about to get the electrical shock at the asylum or in that scene where she screams and asks the convict whether he indeed killed her son or not! Her performance is highly deserving of an Oscar.
The supporting characters of the comforting Reverand, the menace that is Captain Jones, the heinous killer - Northcott, and the morally upright Detective Ybaraa are played well by the different actors and deserve a high amount of praise.
"Changeling" is a rather depressing movie but it inspires tremendous courage in you. Courage to stand up the next time you face injustice!