Changeling is a psychological crime film starring veteran actress Angelina Jolie and directed by famous Hollywood filmmaker Clint Eastwood. Back in 2008, this movie became famous for being ranked among the award winning films.
Clint and his friends have earned nominations for many world-class film awards, including an Academy Award, and put Jolie’s name as the winner of the actress nomination. best lead at the Oscars a year later.
The scriptwriter for this film is the famous comic book author J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), who is known for the works of Spider-Man, Thor, Superman as well as Wonder Woman. It’s amazing to know that a Spider-Man writer is working on an Oscar-winning movie, isn’t it? And now, we will discuss this movie based on a true story that happened in 1928.
Summary of the movie Changeling
- Release year 2008
- Genres Biography , Crime , Drama , History , Mystery , Police Procedural , Politics , Psychological , Horror , Tragedy
- Produce entertaining fantasy
- Director Clint Eastwood
- Cast ∙ Angelina Jolie John Malkovich Jeffrey Donovan Michael Kelly Colm Feore
Los Angeles, 1928. Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) becomes a single mother to her 9-year-old son, Walter Collins (Gattlin Grifith). Despite this, Christine’s life can be said to be quite good. He works as a supervisor in a company that operates a telephone service. At the time, telephone communications still relied on connections through devices operated by operators.
It can be said that Christine is a successful woman. He lives in a luxurious residential area, he was even offered a promotion by his boss. Once upon a time, he was going to the movies with Walter. But, suddenly, her duty calls for Christine to be forced to leave her son to go to work.
When she got home late from work, Christine couldn’t find Walter. Overpowered by a feeling of restlessness, he searched for his son until nightfall. Finally, with her emotions melted, Christine contacted the Los Angeles police or LAPD. Of course, he had to complete the procedure. Because Walter could be considered missing, if he doesn’t return home within 24 hours.
The next day, the police went to Christine’s place to ask for information. But after two weeks, Walter was not found.
Meanwhile, a pastor named Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) begins to criticize the operation of the corrupt Los Angeles police. Their enthusiastic efforts to resolve legal issues have fueled corruption within the city’s law enforcement ranks.
Five months later, the LAPD announced they had found Walter in the town of DeKalb, Illinois. Hearing this news, Christine was clearly happy not to play. Until the day the mother is reunited with her son has come. Along with the police and journalists, Christine picks Walter back to the station.
But a surprising thing happened. When Christine saw the figure of the boy, of course she knew immediately that the boy was not Walter. Refusing to admit it, Captain JJ Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), forces Christine to admit that ‘Walter’ is her son who has gone missing.
Returning home, of course Christine wondered who the kid calling himself Walter was. Later, he also found physical evidence that the boy was not his son.
First, he was circumcised while Walter was not. Second, the boy is also a different height from the real Walter.
This leads Christine to try to prove to the LAPD that the boy is not her son. Pastor Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who speaks out about corruption in the Los Angeles police department, helps him. But unexpectedly, the LAPD treated Christine unfairly, sending her to a mental hospital.
Changeling movie review
Dense criminal drama
What makes Changeling so interesting to watch is that we are brought into the story from the point of view of Christine Collins. A woman is abandoned by her husband and must find her son’s whereabouts, while the organization supposed to help her is ravaged by corruption.
When watching, we will feel the feeling of Christine when losing her beloved son, and then forced to accept the existence of a foreign boy to become her son. This is where we will see that Clint and JMS have done an excellent job on their film.
Questions like: Where was Walter? Is the boy the real Walter? Maybe it will arise as the story progresses. Then, detective Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) comes in, and begins to lift the curtain behind Walter’s disappearance.
Nothing new
Although it represents Christine Collins’ point of view as a woman seeking justice very well, for those of you who enjoy watching Hollywood movies, you may find this to be nothing new. If anyone remembers or has seen it, Changeling will remind us of the movie Erin Brockovich directed by Steven Soderbergh.
The difference is that, if Christine seeks justice for herself and confronts a corrupt system, Erin Brockovich is the woman who uncovers the scandal of Pacific Gas & Electronics Company or PG&E in the US. Moreover, both are lifted from true stories.
Even so, the story of Changeling is still interesting to watch. Corruption in the LAPD can also stir up the emotions of those who have seen the film.
In particular, when Captain JJ Jones replaced Christine in a mental hospital, the mother’s struggle to find clarity about her son’s fate was seen as beginning to threaten the image of the Los Angeles police. Angeles.
Brilliant Angelina Jolie
90s kids will remember Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, the protagonist of the movie adaptation of the Tomb Rider game.
Angie’s reputation as an action woman is also ingrained in our memories because of her actions in Mr. & Grandma. Smith, Wanted, then Salt. But in Changeling, you will soon get rid of the heroic image of the actress.
Because in this movie, Angelina Jolie successfully played the role of a bewildered mother because her only child she loved disappeared without a trace. He did a very good job of portraying Christine’s anger. Especially when the LAPD acts like it’s Christine who did something wrong.
The scenes of Christine while in the mental hospital will also make us emotional. Not surprisingly, Changeling has put Angie’s name in the category of Best Actress nominations in various international film awards.
True story
As we discussed, Clint Eastwood created Changeling based on a true case that same year. What happens in this movie is related to a murder known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders.
Where, the mastermind of this criminal case is Gordon Stewart Northcott, a Canadian citizen who kidnapped, raped and murdered children in the city of Los Angeles. Then Captain JJ Jones’ character was also a Los Angeles cop at the time who handled the ‘return of Walter’.
All events shown in the film Changeling are consistent with what happened in 1928, including details of the discovery of ‘Walter’. It’s just that, in this movie, we will also see the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders case with a slightly different flavor from the actual story.
As usual, we come to the question: Is Changeling worth watching? If you are a lover of the drama genre, especially crime movies, yes. You must see this Clint Eastwood movie. One of the factors that makes us applaud the filmmakers who worked on it is how well Clint and his friends translated the 1928 setting.
Furthermore, know that this movie is based on a true story. Of course you will be curious and want to find out what the early events of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders case were like.
So, the way Clint and JMS connect the mystery of Walter’s disappearance to this traumatic event can be said to be clever, like suspense stories in general.
That’s it, our discussion of the movie Changeling that you can watch over the Netflix network. We will continue to introduce other interesting Netflix shows, stay tuned.
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