Changeling: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by Clint Eastwood, written by J. Michael Straczynski, 140 minutes, rated R.

The new Clint Eastwood movie, “Changeling,” galvanizes Eastwood’s presence as one of today’s best working directors.

After winning in 1993 the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for his Western, “Unforgiven,” some understandably might have thought that Eastwood had peaked--the movie was that good.

But then came 1995’s “The Bridges of Madison County,” which humanized its slight sourcebook with substance; 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby,” which transcended the sport of boxing to become a movie about the necessity of surrogate families; and in 2006, two films that looked at opposing views of World War II--“Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima.” Of those latter four films, each was nominated for Academy Awards. Some took home the honor in various categories.

Now 78, Eastwood continues his stretch of directorial success with his latest movie, a period drama based on true events.

Set in a masterfully recreated 1920s Los Angeles, “Changeling” is the story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), a single mother whose 9-year-old son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), goes missing one day. Five grueling months pass before the corrupt Los Angeles Police Department, desperate for good press, finally produce a child. Trouble is, when Christine surprises them by claiming the child isn’t hers, they make the decision to ignore that claim.

While the press look on, the captain (Jeffrey Donovan) in charge of the case whispers to Christine that time has been hard on the child. Of course, he’s changed. Caught in the glare of the flashing cameras and facing this smiling boy’s own insistence that he is her son, a dumbfounded Christine poses with him in a photo that becomes front-page news.

It’s later, at home, that her doubts about whether this Walter is her Walter grow into a cacophony of facts that he isn’t. This Walter, after all, is circumcised. He’s also three inches shorter than her Walter. Dental exams prove he couldn’t be her Walter. Those who knew Walter, such as his teacher, are steadfast that this child isn’t the same child.

What’s going on here? It’s complicated, but when Christine tries to find out by questioning the police with the help of a powerful Presbyterian minister named Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), she quickly is gathered up and sent to an asylum.

The intent is to shut her up, only it doesn’t, particularly when the story detours to include one Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner), a serial killer linked to the deaths of 20 children, and when Briegleb introduces Christine to a lawyer (Geoff Pierson) who agrees to work pro bono in an effort to help her.

What springs from all this is a beautifully measured movie armed with the undercurrent of a thriller whose nuanced performances help to tell it well. Everyone raises their game here--Jolie is especially good, commanding our attention and earning it. As the detective who cracks the Northcott case, Michael Kelly is superb. And while it’s true that J. Michael Straczynski’s script can be heavyhanded in the flashbacks concerning Northcott, whose real-life story is altered here, the film mostly tempers its melodramatic elements by not giving itself over fully to them.

One of the film’s chief conceits comes down to its ambitious scope--it’s enormous. Still, Eastwood is fearless, juxtaposing a mother’s profound worry for her child and the injustices threatening to cripple her from finding him against a city undone by the very people charged to protect it. That’s a lot for one movie to contain, but Eastwood succeeds. He taps into Christine’s rage, he uses it, and he drives us through.

Grade: A-