Certainly a film to not miss.

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2012)

Now more geared toward directing that his acting career, Clint Eastwood dusts off this amazing and unique crime thriller with the help of a few writers. The concept of Eastwood returning to Universal is a rather interesting move considering he's partial to Warner Bros. I don't exactly remember much about the film awards of 2008, but if I had been a judge to determine if this was in the rankings, I would most certainly call it one of the top twenty films for the year it was released. Angelina Jolie stars as an historical character, Christine Collins who at the start of the film plays a single mother who is trying to support her son, Walter. What starts out as a missing child turns into something bigger than the audience might anticipate. Since this is a period film of the late 1920s, you do have to remember on a historical note that this was the point in time when the L.A. police department was big into scandals to mostly cover up their ties to the mob. So with that in mind, you can imagine how frustrating it was for Ms. Collins to deal with the police as well as coming from the position of a woman of that time who had very limited roles in the public eye. Bottom line, if you like hard core drama that has suspense and is thrilling, this is for you. The acting is extremely professional. Jeffrey Donavan is very convincing as the head of police affairs who is stopping at nothing to keep Christine Collins from exposing his mistake by giving her the wrong child. This movie is not for the faint of heart. There are some disturbing scenes here. First and foremost it's a documentary, so some details cannot be avoided. As far as I am concerned if there is an updated version of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, this should be in that version of that book. Excellent performances all around!