Easily one of the most well-made films ever

Rating: 10/10 (17 April 2011)

Most movies stick to one genre, and may branch out to another, but I haven't seen a movie transition this well between genres than this movie since 1991's Ghost. Ghost, like many other movies, was both a comedy and a drama, but I argue that one of the reasons it got its Best Picture nod and won for Best Original Screenplay is because its story was a comedy, a drama, a thriller, a mystery, a crime, and a romance.
In this movie, we see a transition from a drama, to a mystery, to a thriller, to a crime, to a courtroom drama, to a history. The story is so brilliant and so brilliantly told. How this movie did not receive a Best Picture or even a Best Screenplay nomination shocks me.
Not only well written, but the movie is so passionately directed and acted. You can feel and see the passion in Angelina Jolie's character Christine Collins. In fact, all of the cast, from John Malkovich as the determined preacher, to Jason Butler Harner as the disturbed child murderer, to Devon Conti as the faux son. The determination and dedication by the cast to their respective characters gives serious contributions to the movie. You can feel it.
SPOILERS START HERE The movie has the underlying theme and message of hoping in impossible circumstances. Although Christine does not find her son, she brings justice to the man who did her wrong, which may not have happened if she had ignored the whole thing. SPOILERS END HERE
This movie can make you feel, scream, cry, make it hard for you to look away, or make you close your eyes. Most importantly, it makes you hope.