Great Period Film...Eastwood's Best Film

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2009)

Simply put, although it is like a Hollywood-styled melodrama, this film is superior to Clint's other masterpieces Million Dollar Baby and The Unforgiven which both won Best Picture and Best Director. Those films were more original and I think Unforgiven was his best, but in terms of film-making, not originality, Changeling is better. Great period-piece without CGI or other modern technologies require meticulous attention to details on sets and style of the period. This film succeeds in re-creating the 1920s (even if some details are not quite accurate) with terrific sets and cinematography. The script was excellent and acting was very good. Angelina isn't a great actress but she pulls off convincing scenes such as when she shows her discomfort, confusion and despair when she is alone with the boy Arthur or facing the corrupt psychiatrist. John Malkovich often seems forced and superficial in his acting, but here he plays a convincing role as a driven anti-corruption clergyman. There are plenty of films with missing children, murders, and abused women, but this film climbs a notch above an ice floe of penguins: films that are alike. The film strength is really drawn from its sense of hope. It gives and it takes like an action film with plenty of twists. You draw hope with the child off the train and then feel let down. You draw hope when Christine Collins (Angelina's character) gets a phone call from a friend and again, you feel her disappointment. Even though it is easy to know how a Hollywood-style melodramatic thriller ends, this film scores big with the idea of a mother's hope.