CHANGELING
The Story:
Inspired by actual events that occurred in 1920s-era Los Angeles. The year was 1928, and the setting a working-class suburb of Los Angeles. Christine (Angelina Jolie), a single mother and her 10-year-old son Walter (Gattlin Griffith), who share a modest house in a quiet neighborhood in Los Angeles. Christine has the photogenic job of telephone supervisor on roller-skates, overseeing dozens of female operators as they connect calls at a giant switchboard. Early sound films were loaded with scenes of smart-talking women handling phone lines; Eastwood takes advantage of the inspiration of skates to cover them in neat tracking shots.
One day when Christine is late getting home from work, Walter is gone. Nearly five months later, Christine is informed that her son has been found in Illinois. With all attendant hoopla for the benefit of the press and police, a reunion is arranged at the train station, but, as soon as the boy steps onto the platform, Christine knows this kid is not her son.
The police, fronted by Capt. J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), insist otherwise, waving off definitive evidence relating to physical discrepancies. Even when Walter's dentist, teacher and fellow students insist he's not the right boy, the replacement himself remains maddeningly resolute, driving the otherwise level-headed Christine to distraction.
Initially, this is due to the tireless efforts of a crusading radio evangelist, the Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), one of whose missions is to expose what he sees as the complete corruption of the LAPD under Chief James E. Davis (Colm Feore). On Christine's side from the beginning, the pastor persists in using her case to spotlight the department's malfeasance, and the character is notable as one of the few screen depictions of a righteous Christian leader of this period (Aimee Semple McPherson) to be cast in an entirely favorable light.
Irrevocably setting the judicial machinery in motion is a boy in his early teens (Eddie Alderson) who movingly tells police about some horrific murders of kidnapped boys he's unwillingly participated in with an unhinged young man, Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner), out in the desert.
What happens next to Capt. Jones, the police chief, the mayor and the murderers, among others -- is all part of the public record and the less than salubrious history of Los Angeles politics.
Starring:
Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Geoff Pierson, Denis O’Hare, Frank Wood , Peter Gerety, Gattlin Griffith Devon Conti.
Directed By:
Clint Eastwood
Release:
2008
Watch the Trailer:
