Bolstered by a strong, heartfelt & compelling performance from Angelina Jolie, Changeling is a competently crafted & sincerely narrated feature that brings its real life story to cinematic life in a calm, composed & captivating manner and is another quality addition to Clint Eastwood's directorial oeuvre.Set in Los Angeles during the late 1920s, the story of Changeling follows a single mother whose son goes missing one day. The ensuing investigation ends with the police finding a boy who fits the description. But when she complains that the kid they found isn't her son, the cops dismiss her as a liar & try to silence her.Directed by Clint Eastwood (best known for Unforgiven & Million Dollar Baby), the film follows a conventional path and hits a few rough patches in between but the interest in the case & the mystery surrounding the fate of the missing kid is never lost. Eastwood directs the story with patience & comfort, and recreates the period setting in fine detail.The script is smartly structured, letting out only required details at a time, which keeps the drama in motion. Camerawork is controlled for the most part. Editing is a bit on the slow side and the story could have used a better pace. Eastwood also provides the background score that silently accompanies the plot and rarely tries to make its presence felt.But it's Angelina Jolie's powerful, heartbreaking & emotionally resonant rendition of a grief-stricken mother that steers this story past the finish line, for it is one of her finest acts and is also a departure from her typical roles. The supporting cast also chip in with good inputs, especially John Malkovich & Jeffrey Donovan, but it is Jolie's show all the way.On an overall scale, Changeling explores the themes of female disempowerment & political corruption with frankness and benefits a lot from the satisfying work that its faithful cast puts in. There was room for improvement no doubt but the end result is still an interesting cinema that delivers the goods under Eastwood's assured direction & Jolie's commanding performance. Definitely worth a shot.

(Flash Review)A mother loses her child and after a few weeks the police find a boy that isn't hers but heavily force her to accept that it is her child to avoid embarrassment to the police department. She tries to fight and prove their wrongdoing and the police fight back with extreme measures. Will the mother ever find her son and will the police ever admit their wrongdoing? This is based on a true story and is a very well-done period piece with great production value, good pacing and a compelling story. Jolie put forth a solid effort even though, it is hard for me to see past her Hollywood persona. Some nice shot framing mixed with some honest feeling scenes made for a quality picture.

This movie is based on a true story that occurred in L.A. in March of 1928. Christine Collins is a single mother of a young boy, Walter (Gattlin Griffith). Christen works as the supervisor of a large group of telephone operators while Walter attends school. One Saturday, when she had promised to take Walter to see a Charlie Chaplin movie, she is called into work to fill in for another sick employee. When she returns from work, Walter is no where to be found. She immediately calls the police, knowing that Walter is reliable and would call her if he had a reason not to be home. The police take her call but reject doing anything immediately: Walter had not been missing for more than 24 hours. After her request is made official, days (then weeks) go by as Walter remains missing.The media is informed and Christine's search for Walter becomes a famous case as newspapers and radio reporters won't let up on the police department's failure to find Walter. A local minister, Rev Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who broadcasts on the radio and has some public clout, seems to be particularly interested in the 'widespread corruption of the LAPD.' He uses their lack of action in this case to further attack the LAPD. Weeks after Walter's disappearance, Christine receives news from the LAPD that Walter had been found with a drifter in Illinois and that he would be returning home safe and sound. When Christine goes to meet him at the train station, the boy who meets her is not Walter (even though he claims to be). After police Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) has the newspaper take a picture of Christine and her "son," he insists that she take him home in spite of her certainty that he is NOT Walter. Jones suggests that Walter's appearance may have changed and that Christine might be in a state of shock. When she continues to insist that the strange boy in her house is not Walter Dr. Earl W. Tarr (Peter Gerety), who regularly works with the police, tries to convince her that the new boy's shorter height and the fact that he is circumcised (Walter wasn't) all could be explained logically. As she continues to speak out, the police have her committed to an asylum.She is released when a young illegal immigrant, 14-year-old Sanford Clark (Eddie Alderson) is discovered at a nearby ranch. He is arrested for deportation back to Canada. But before deportation, Clark reveals that he was involved in a bizarre series murders (about twenty other boys). The alleged murderer is Clark's uncle, Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Hamer). (For more about the actual events, see 'Wineville Chicken Coop Murders' on Wikipeia.) Could Walter have been one of those murdered..or was he one of the two that got away..or was he still missing in another location? These are the issues that continue to be unfolded as the movie plays out.

Clint Eastwood is a great example of an actor who made a smooth transition into directing. His films are always fluid and visually gripping, direct and deceptively simple, told with a straight face whilst retaining emotional weight. Though some of his directorial work doesn't quite achieve what it set out to, it is it is nearly always gripping on some level and interesting to watch. Whenever he delivers on a script that that allows him to use all of his expertise then he usually provides something engrossing. Never is this clearer than with Changeling, based on the true story of the disappearance of Christine Collins' son and the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders. Here you have a period piece that is tailor made to Eastwood's understanding of human struggle and involving story- telling. The relatively straight-forward story is set in 1928 and mainly details Collins' struggle against the LAPD after her son Walter disappears. The boy they return to her 5 months later isn't hers. Her protests fall on deaf ears as the police insist that she's just in shock and that she should give the boy a trial run. The film continues to build tension and unease brilliantly until Collins is sectioned, which leaves a crusading Reverend and a detective on a case as her only hope. Eastwood had shown previously that he could handle both mystery (Mystic River) and drama (Million Dollar Baby), so a story featuring plenty of both his right up his street and it certainly shows. He handles this story with delicacy and emotion, developing characters and their feelings without letting the story itself become unfocused. The deeper we get into Christine's plight, the more we want to know the truth.The further the film progresses, the more impressive Angelina Jolie's performance is. I was sceptical that should could carry such a film on her shoulders, but she brings everything needed to the role. What she does that is most striking is give us a woman who appears vulnerable on the surface yet contains an inner strength that cannot be broken. I believed every act of defiance and cry of anguish, as much as I believed every tear and melancholic expression. Above all she manages to make Christine authentic. Her reactions are just as you'd expect a real mother to act in such a situation. This isn't an easy performance to play off and carry with conviction given its complexities, I think Jolie did an extremely noteworthy job and received a deserved Oscar nomination.The film develops the themes of female disempowerment and corruption of the law with an appropriate subtlety. We see Christine's worries dismissed by men in charge, whether they are doctors or police chiefs, and just how easy it is for them to make her life even more of a struggle. The two high ranking police only appear to care about the public's image of the LAPD and Christine only finds support from a radio reverend. All of these roles are played with dependability, Jeffrey Donovan and Colm Feore as the seedy cops, John Malkovich going against type as the generous Reverend Briegleb. The film does well to reflect the nature of its period. There is an authenticity and stark beauty to the visuals, almost as if they were painted. You get a feel of the time and you never question it because it washes over you. The score provided by Eastwood fits the mood too, somewhat stark and lead by a sombre piano, it suits what is happening on screen perfectly. As the film builds we discover all kinds of secrets and corruptions. The film leaves you thrilled and shocked, upset but hopeful, it manages to bring in so many emotions without making them feel forced like so many films of its style do. Eastwood is clearly in his element with films that tell deep stories about people, he gives them heart without losing sight of the story that he is trying to bring to life. In Jolie he has an actress who handles the material with grace and courage, who becomes the person we care about and want to succeed. There is a mystery that unravels excellently and Christine's case becomes all the more engaging as it does. Most importantly the film very rarely sags or loses focus, I was completely engaged from beginning to end. It gave me plenty to be entertained by, be involved with and finally reflect upon.