Changeling came and went in the theaters, despite the star-wattage attached to it (directed by Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood and starring Oscar-winning Angeline Jolie). Were cinema audience experiencing Angelina burnout? It is entirely possible. So when I finally watched Changeling, I was surprised how good it was, and what a shame that it made such a small impression in theaters. But this is the sort of intimate story that works well at home. You want to pay attention to this bizarre true tale, and don’t want the distraction of someone kicking the back of your chair or chawing on fistfuls of candy right in your ear.
Changeling is based on a true story, the opening credits proclaim. But that doesn’t prepare you with how appalling a story it is. It is March 1928, and we are introduced to a young single mother named Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie in a surprisingly soft, delicate performance). She dotes on her 9-year-old son Walter, who is the light of her life. She dotes on the boy, but makes him tough. “Don’t start a fight, but always finish it,” she tells him. One day she comes home from work at her job as a phone operator and Walter is gone… seemingly evaporated from their home, with his uneaten sandwich still in the refrigerator.
And if that isn’t shocking enough, what happens after is truly amazing. First the Los Angeles Police Department (who already have a terrible reputation in town as being corrupt) ignore Christine’s phone calls that something is wrong. Finally, a report is taken, and the search for Walter begins. There is a lot of press around the case as weeks, then months go by, and the boy is still missing. Then, suddenly, five months later, Christine gets a visit from the police captain while she is at work. He takes off his hat, smiles, and proclaims that the boy has been found in Illinois, and they are returning him to his mother. But the thing is, when she meets young “Walter” at the train station (with a horde of media poised to capture the moment), the kid is not her son. The police threaten her through gritted teeth, and she is forced to smile for the cameras and take the strange kid home.
What. The. Hell?!?!
Poor Christine. There’s a strange kid living in her house that is four inches shorter than her son, physically doesn’t look like him, and is (ahem) circumcised, whereas her son was not. Doctors and professional analysts (hired by the police, because they want the case closed) proclaim that physical trauma of the last five months caused the physical changes, and, well, Ms. Collins herself must be mentally unstable because she is not accepting the child as her own son Walter.
And you know what? That is really just the set-up of the story. Collins continues to fight for the truth, knowing that the police are no longer looking for her child. She gets the help of a fiery anti-LAPD preacher (John Malkovich) that rails on the police every week on his radio show, and even gathers a passel of witnesses willing to testify that the boy is not Walter. All this while the police firmly (in words and in actions) declare her crazy. As more information is revealed, what may have actually happened to Walter is, not surprisingly, just as horrifying as what happened to Christine.
I thought this was an excellent drama, despite its long running time. When you think the film is reaching the climax, you check your watch and see that there is still another 40 minutes left. You think, what else could possibly happen? But as the story continues, it just becomes that much more baffling and horrifying. Changeling, with is gorgeous set design, costuming, and all-around great acting, is an absorbing peek into a scandal that rocked a corrupt police department and enraged the public. Too bad that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
