Based On A Story Almost Never Told

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2010)

This is the first Angelina Jolie movie I have ever seen and the second for John Malkovich (the other being Johnny English); and the only reason I decided to see it was that it was based on a true crime story. The story is based on the barely told behind the scenes drama of the notorious real-life Chicken Coop Murders, and despite liberties and facts left out, it stays so shocking that it is hard to believe it was true. The story is that Gordon Northcott was a serial murderer and pedophile sheltered by his parents and allowed to slaughter several abducted boys, but the real-life story of Christine Collins connected to the case would not be told if her court records were not spared from destruction. To me, period pieces make the best stories, and in this one, one the crooked police make a mistake in covering up a murder investigation of Christine's son, it's a doozy. It has a cast of two big stars and several unrecognizables - although the Chief of Police looks like Michael Gross or Dan Castellaneta. The plot and script are excellent; my favorite scenes are when the dentist and teacher bust the holes in the police fraud. I mean, if the corrupt cops had just played up Walter's death, they would not have screwed themselves over to be busted down the line. The most powerful point of the story is the ending and where the players and locations are today. While this story (unlike the true story) ends with the suggestion that Walter could have lived, it remains uncertain. If this story had broke in the Fifties or Sixties, he would have been found, but now, there's probably someone out there who could be his son or daughter and not be aware of it. If anything, the case needs a modern-day forensics follow-up at the modern Northcott Ranch, wherever that is.