Good movie of a true story in the 1920s Los Angeles.

Rating: Null/10 (25 March 2009)

Angelina Jolie is Christine Collins, single mom who was a lead operator at the phone company, back when a bunch of ladies put calls through at a switchboard. She is so competent that her boss says she will be considered for a supervisory job, even though it was still thought back in the 1920s that most women couldn't handle such a job. But one evening when she had plans to go to a movie with her son, 9, she was called in to work. She told her son not to leave the house.
Gattlin Griffith is her son Walter Collins. When mom came home Walter was not to be found in the house, nor the neighborhood, and no one had seen him. She did the only thing she knew, called the police and reported her son missing. They investigated for months without turning up anything, until one day Christine gets a call that they had found her son ... in Illinois.
Her elation turned sour when she met the boy at the train station, he was not her son. Even though the police told her kids can change in 5 months, this one was 3 inches shorter and was circumcised. Later both her son's teacher and her son's dentist verified that the boy could not be Walter.
But the Los Angeles police, known for corruption, were attempting to cover their incompetence by finding a son for Christine and closing the case.
Another key character is John Malkovich as Rev. Gustav A. Briegleb who made it his mission in life to work to expose the corruption in the police department. He took an active part in Christine's fight and through his efforts, including his radio broadcasts, enlisted the public to help fight the cause.
The whole story is historically accurate, and Angelina Jolie is superb as Christine. The movie is really her story more than anything else.
SPOILERS: Even though most already know the details, Walter was one of perhaps 20 boys that were stolen off the streets of Los Angeles and taken to a ranch to be molested and killed. Although they never verified Walter's death, he was never found either. His mother never gave up hope of seeing him again. The impersonator had used Walter's name to get to Hollywood to meet Tom Mix. The case was brought against the chief and certain other members of the police department and led to positive reforms.