christine collins

Originally planned as a Ron Howard project, 2008’s Changeling winds up making use of Clint Eastwood’s meticulous direction and is a careful, interesting film. Based on real life events in 1928 Los Angele's, Changeling tackles an abundance of themes but manages to not feel overly crowded. It can be an exhausting ordeal, much like the experience of the lead character, but remains an ultimately rewarding motion picture from Eastwood.

With a script by J. Michael Straczynski, Changeling is based on the Wine ville Chicken Coop Murders. In the real case, Gordon Stewart Northcott abducted his 13-year-old nephew, Sanford Clark. When Clark was eventually discovered by police in California, he informed them that he had been forced to help Gordon and his mother kill several young boys. One of the boys was Walter Collins, whose mother Christine Collins is used as the focus of the film.

Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins. One day her son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) goes missing and she reports the case to the police, only to discover that the LAPD has a sort of 24-hour “waiting period” on missing children. After a few agonizing months, the police inform Christine that they have found her son alive. She meets the boy and immediately tells police, who are looking to clear up a public relations nightmare, that the boy is not hers. Captain Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) coerces Christine to take the boy home on a “trial basis.”

Christine discovers that the boy the police have presented her with is circumcised and shorter than her son, so she pursues it with Captain Jones who tosses her aside to avoid more bad PR for the department. Christine is persistent and her case eventually becomes the cause of Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), a fiery preacher with a mission to expose the corruption of the LAPD. Christine’s battle is a nightmare, as she is transferred to a mental institution for troubling the police.

Changeling works beautifully as an account of the swirling events overtaking Christine. While she is locked away in the mental institution, she discovers that it is common practice for the LAPD to simply discard women that are troubling. Meanwhile, a boy named Sanford Clark (Eddie Alderson) turns up and informs Detective Ybarra (Michael Kelly) of the aforementioned killings. This blows yet another door of the case wide open and the LAPD finds it difficult to control the storm that follows.

Changeling is about how events spiral out of control and how quickly things can get out of hand. It is about the corruption of the police force, about sexism and about missing a child. Eastwood handles these various themes well, never giving the impression that he or anyone else is merely spinning plates. Instead, Changeling is an operation of what Roger Ebert describes as “an uncoiling of outrage.” Try to remain contained as you witness the cops lie and sidestep. Try not to feel Christine’s anger.

This is a movie that moves forward, adding complications and possibilities as it gathers steam. It meanders through the avenues of chance as it should, with many questions as to whether or not Walter is alive dividing the road ahead. Jolie is excellent at the centre of the maelstrom, while other performers give her sublime support. Especially of note are Alderson’s emotional portrayal of Sanford as a boy crippled with regret and guilt and the deviously simple casting of Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott. The movie makes no mention of his mother’s involvement in the crimes, likely for dramatic simplicity.

Changeling is a fascinating motion picture directed and scored wonderfully by one of the finest working directors of our time. Eastwood is always careful piecing things together and between this film and Gran Torino, it’s safe to say that 2008 found him having a very good year behind the camera.