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December 12, 2008

Changeling is another winner for Eastwood

Changeling has been out for a couple of days already. If you haven’t viewed it yet, you should watch it. It’s really not as depressing as the trailers make it appear.

When I first heard the title, I thought of the irish folk-tales of the eternal fairies that would take human children and leave an enchanted object or one of their own in the place of the human child.

With that in mind, it’s easy to understand the title. Except no supernormal being took the child, but a serial killer. The tale is well told and based, loosely, upon a true story.

This story is adapted to the screen and produced and directed by Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood has delivered an unbroken string of triumphs: Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. Eastwood continues to be the director of choice for depicting crimes and heartaches that strike the common citizen at will.

Eastwood knows a good story, and he knows how to tell it on film. Not everything he does is as powerful as his take on the female boxer in Million Dollar Baby. In Changeling he presents another strong woman, Christine Collins, played by Angelina Jolie.

The film is based upon an infamous kidnapping and murder case that occurred in Los Angeles. Gordon Northcott kidnapped, molested, killed, and dismembered a number of boys in 1928. He coerced his mother, Louisa Northcott, into killing Walter Collins. She admitted the murder of Walter Collins and was sentenced to life in prison. She was sent to San Quentin. On In February, 1929, after the trial of 27 days, Northcott was found guilty of killing Lewis Winslow, 12, and his brother, Nelson Winslow, 10, and an unidentified Mexican boy. February, 1929, Judge Freeman sentenced Northcott to be hanged. The sentence was carried out 2 October 1930.

The Los Angeles police were also involved in a scandal as a result of this case. Arthur Hutchens, Jr., who was a runaway from Illinois, claimed he was the missing Walter Collins, so he could get a free trip to California. Los Angeles police considered the case closed and tried to convince Walters mother, Christine Collins that Arthur Hutchens, Jr. was her son. When she refused to believe he was her son, she was placed in an insane asylum. Only after Arthur Hutchens admitted he was not Christine Collins' son was Christine released.

The movie seems to drag a bit because, in my opinion Jolie seemed to play the anxious mother as though she were being watched rather than as though the feelings were truly hers.

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Amy Ryan, John Malkovich Reverend Gustav Briegleb, Jeffrey Donovan, Riki Lindhome, Kelly Lynn, Colm Feore, Jason Butler, Geoffrey Pierson, Gattlin Griffith, Devon Gearhart, Wendy Worthington and Morgan Eastwood.

Changeling

Rating: (*** out of *****)

Synopsis: Inspired by actual events that occurred in 1920s-era Los Angeles, Clint Eastwood's The Changeling tells the story of a woman driven to confront a corrupted LAPD after her abducted son is retrieved and she begins to suspect that the boy returned to her is not the same boy she gave birth to. The year was 1928, and the setting a working-class suburb of Los Angeles. As Christine (Angelina Jolie) said goodbye to her son, Walter, and departed for work, she never anticipated that this was the day her life would be forever changed. Upon returning home, Christine was distressed to discover that Walter was nowhere to be found. Over the course of the following months, the desperate mother would launch a search that would ultimately prove fruitless. Yet just when it seemed that all hope was lost, a nine-year-old boy claiming to be Christine's son seemed to appear out of thin air. Overcome with emotions and uncertain how to face the authorities or the press, Christine invites the child to stay in her home despite knowing without a doubt that he is not her son. As much as Christine would like to accept the fact that her son has been returned to her, she cannot accept the injustice being pushed upon her and continues to challenge the Prohibition-era Los Angeles police force at every turn. As a result, Christine is slandered by the powers that be, and painted as an unfit mother. In this town, a woman who challenges the system is putting her life on the line, and as the situation grows desperate, the only person willing to aid her in her search is benevolent local activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich).

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 141 minutes

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