To find her son, she did what no one else dared.
Los Angeles, 1928. A single mother returns from work to find her nine-year-old son gone. She calls the LAPD to initiate a search. Five months later, a boy is found in Illinois who fits the description; he says he's her son. To fanfare and photos, the LAPD reunite mother and son, but she insists he's not her boy. The cops dismiss her as either a liar or hysterical. When she joins a minister in his public criticism of the police, they in turn use government power to silence and intimidate her. Meanwhile, a cop goes to a dilapidated ranch to find a Canadian lad who's without legal status; the youth tells a grisly tale. There's redress for murder; is there redress for abuse of power?
Genre(s): Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
Runtime: 141 minutes
Rating: 8.1/10 (46,345 votes)
Release Date: 20 May 2008
Country: USA
Languages: Portuguese, English
Company: Imagine Entertainment
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, and language.
Director(s): Clint Eastwood
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Producer(s):
Clint Eastwood - producer
Brian Grazer - producer
Ron Howard - producer
Robert Lorenz - producer
Tim Moore - executive producer
James Whitaker - executive producer (as Jim Whitaker)
Geyer Kosinski - executive producer (uncredited)
Writer(s):
J. Michael Straczynski - (written by)
Cast:
Angelina Jolie - Christine Collins
Gattlin Griffith - Walter Collins
Michelle Gunn - Sandy
Jan Devereaux - Operator
Erica Grant - Operator
Antonia Bennett - Operator
Kerri Randles - Operator
Frank Wood - Ben Harris
Morgan Eastwood - Girl on Tricycle
Madison Hodges - Neighborhood Girl
Music: Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood - producer
Brian Grazer - producer
Ron Howard - producer
Robert Lorenz - producer
Tim Moore - executive producer
James Whitaker - executive producer (as Jim Whitaker)
Geyer Kosinski - executive producer (uncredited)
Writer(s):
J. Michael Straczynski - (written by)
Cast:
Angelina Jolie - Christine Collins
Gattlin Griffith - Walter Collins
Michelle Gunn - Sandy
Jan Devereaux - Operator
Erica Grant - Operator
Antonia Bennett - Operator
Kerri Randles - Operator
Frank Wood - Ben Harris
Morgan Eastwood - Girl on Tricycle
Madison Hodges - Neighborhood Girl
Music: Clint Eastwood
Posted on: October 16, 2008
July 7th, 2009
there's absolutely no winning with the doctors. If you smile too much,you're delusional. If you smile too little, you're depressed. If you'reneutral, then you've lost touch with basic human emotions. All anyonecan do is learn how to behave properly. The Wineville Chicken CoopMurders (also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders) was a series ofkidnappings and murders of young boys occurring in Los Angeles andRiverside County, California between 1928 and 1930. The case receivednational attention and events related to it exposed corruption in theLos Angeles Police Department. The 2008 film Changeling is based uponevents related to this case.
July 9th, 2009
One of Clint's more challenging films. Angelina Jolie's young sondisappears and the corrupt LAPD, prodded into a search, try to foistoff a different kid on her. She denies it is her son. The police wantthe case wrapped up and Jolie's public complaints are becoming anuisance so they have her committed to a psychiatric hospital where sheundergoes various horrifying experiences.
Then a boy shows up in police custody, an illegal Canadian immigrant,who begins to tell a blood-curdling tale of being held with other boyson a ranch near Riverside. The rancher, a fruitcake named Northcott,was in the habit of kidnapping young boys wholesale and slaughteringthem at his pleasure with an ax. The ex-Canadian identifies Jolie's sonas one of the twenty or so victims. Northcott is captured in Vancouver,convicted in Los Angeles, and hanged in San Quentin.
Years later, still another kid shows up and reveals that, in fact, heand Jolie's son managed a joint escape. The other boy may still be outthere somewhere, alive, afraid to return home. The last shot is ofJolie walking with a smile down the street. "It's given me something Ididn't have before." A detective who has backed her in the case says,"Huh? What's that?" "Hope," says Jolie sweetly.
That final exchange gave me a shudder because just for a moment aflashbulb exploded in my admittedly unusual brain and I was suddenlywatching an old episode of "Dragnet." In fact, the first half hour ormore focuses on Angelina Jolie, earth mother. If the end sounded like"Dragnet," the whole beginning of the story looked and sounded like amovie on LMN, the kind with titles like "Please Don't Take My Baby!"and "Why Are You Doing This To Me?" Jolie handles the role of thedespairing but ever hopeful mother with seasoned skill but it's astereotype nevertheless. She's loving, plucky, and defiant in the faceof patronizing cops or brutal hospital staff. She gets to weep a lot.My heart was sinking along with hers, as I was pinning down thedifference between Eastwood's ambitious story and a typical LMNoffering — higher production values and more expensive actors in theformer.
Happily the narrative takes a turn for the better when it shifts fromJolie's clichéd tribulations to the new investigation by the police,led sub rosa by a sympathetic but thoroughly UN-stereotyped tough cop,played by Michael Kelly. His is one of three outstanding performancesin the film, the others' being that of the mass murderer Northcott,played by Jason Butler Harner, and the final escaped child to turn upin custody and tell the tale, Asher Axe. Harner's role is a difficultone. He must shift his demeanor, his motives, his whole persona, indifferent directions at different time, a Proteus of a character. Thepart isn't that well written and it takes skill to pull it off.
In fact, the movie itself doesn't follow the usual narrative template.That's not bad in itself. If the story is based on real events, it canonly be twisted so far. But this plot is wrought by the writer, J.Michael Straczynski, in a way that seems to me to hold the audience insomething like contempt. Anti-climax follows anti-climax with thestrictness of a religious ritual. And we don't really get a singlesolid scene with Northcott the monster until his execution when, yetagain, we get to go through the process — the shivering convict, thesolemn reverend, the thirteen steps, the grim witnesses, the blackhood, the adjusting of the hairy noose, the checking of the watch tomake sure there are no last-minute reprieves, the nod of the warden tothe executioner, the flapping of the trap door, the plunging of theshackled body, and this time Clint lingers on the victim's final spasmsa long time — too long. I'm frankly getting tired of these executionscenes. We've seen dozens of them lately. They're getting more and moreexplicit. Is there some hidden appeal in a realistic scene of a manbeing deliberately murdered? If so, it's under my head. They'restarting to look like slasher movies for adults.
It's one of Clint's more arty movies but not, in my opinion, one of hisbest. The period detail is exquisite (although I suspect that in 1928Jolie would have referred to the "fridge" as an "ice box.") Love thoseantique cars! But the photography is darker than it needs to be. Eventhe scene in the desert, with dead bodies being unearthed, is shot latein the afternoon so that the sun is low and the shadows long.
With its several flaws, though, the movie is still worth watching. I'dnever heard of the case before yet, according to what we see on thescreen, it had a great deal of impact on California law.
July 14th, 2009
sorry for my English.
I will not say anything about outstanding play of Angelina Jolie orothers. I'd just say, that the most horrible thing in this story thatit really happened. And not only that it happens everyday in normallife. Just heard a story that happened not in those days, happenedtwo-three years ago in Russia. The guy new his parents were killed bylocal police, he tried to get to them with help of federal securityservice (former name K G B). He thought they can be trusted, but theythrew him to the Psychiatric clinic… But unlike this story he nevercame back from there.
Besides that, in USSR in the times of Andropov's ruling, they havebuilt such clinics all over the country. So called medical stars haveinvented the 'Slowflowing schizophrenia'. And used that term in orderto close up those who weren't needed to them. It was easier thanputting them to prison, because for incarceration you still need a factof crime. For detention and maintenance in a psychiatric clinic, youjust needed a verdict of doctor.
July 18th, 2009
Chageling is a wonderful film; a harrowing scenario stretchedagonisingly out to two and a bit hours without a moment that is everreally without either fear, hope, pain or anything particularlyuninteresting. It's a tale of dedication; of facing one's fear andtruly persisting in what you know is just, even if everyone else seemsto think otherwise. And boy, do a lot of supporting characters thinkotherwise; continuously trying to beat the lead back down, a poundinginto submission; an assault on the emotions; a dangling of theproverbial carrot in front of them with the promise of their old lifeback, plus one thing that wasn't there before filling in for somethingthat now isn't. Freedom and 'normality' is so close, yet justice andthe righteous scenario is so far away.
The film is effortless; effortless in its progression from an everydaymother and son; to a disappearance; to a re-appearance; to a might-bestudy of madness; to the dedication of a detective and then onto theharrowing conclusion. You'll get angry; you'll feel sad; you'll feelfrustrated, only not at the film itself, before settling with anemotion that is somewhere in between everything: a sort of acceptance.The lead is Christine Collins (Jolie), a supervisor at a local branchof a national telephone company whom lives alone with her son Michaelin a small house in Los Angels, circa the 1920s. As a lead, we're ledto believe she embodies a number of characteristics: individualism,professionalism, but most importantly, dedication. Very early on, asenior individual at the telephone company Christine works at commendsher for the level of her recent work, and it is briefly established howwell she's done in defying her, what we assume to be, ego driven maledoubters whom work in the nether regions of the company.
Within the narrow corridors and wired-up rooms of her workspace,Collins bosses her female workmates and dominates what is hard, fastpaced work that needs a lot of dedication, love and attention to getthe verbal results she is given early on. What follows, ratherinterestingly, is a taking out of this supposed groove on Christine'sbehalf when the male led LAPD just about manages to sign her life awayand put her on misery row. What was an office-set life of dedicationagainst what might be perceived as male oppressors in a feminist-lessset world is escalated into the rest of the world as the actual policedepartment of the city of Los Angels, and then the government itself,is taken on by this one woman and her dedicated hunt for the meretruth.
Director Eastwood treats the supposed repression of a strong, truthfulfemale voice in exceptional taste. He tells a plight, a journey throughthe grinder that sees police station interrogation rooms; asylum cellsand prison execution chambers the locales for the ever searchingreality of the situation. The film will mostly, for its first third atleast, consist of men at the supposed peak of their respective careerstelling the female lead just how wrong she is; how deluded she is andhow correct they are. But she doesn't buckle; she knows what's what andshe knows more than they do – she should, since she's smart,independent and she's the mother.
Changeling only gives us a brief glimpse of peace, tranquillity andnormality very early on. The very little exposure the film gives us ofMichael works in the film's favour, since there isn't really enough ofa stone-wall chance to map onto exactly what this child looks like,including any distinguishable features. From here, the film rathercannily relies on the supposed bringing back of a boy, of somedescription, which Christine is told is her son, to act as the overallinitial incident. If the boy is indeed her son, the film is a study ofmadness; if he is the incorrect boy, then we observe the film has alicence to go down a different path, that of a detective story so thatthe truth can be searched out. What actually transpires is thatEastwood takes us down both routes anyway. We go off on one for thescenes in which Christine is supposedly crazy while the film unfolds awould-be hard-boiled; whisky downing; bribe-rejecting; noir-infuseddetective on the other – one that looks as if he's waltzed straight outof another film and into this one.
As a physical representation of justice, this detective named LesterYbarra (Kelly) is Eastwood's way of reminding us that not all men enjoypushing women that have garnered praise and attention for defyingwhat's expected of them back down into the doldrums. In regards toChristine's supposed madness, Eastwood shoots the scenes of hercommitment in a particularly harrowing fashion. Additionally, DetectiveYbarra's investigations lead him to an isolated shack int he middle ofrural nowhere and the first things he notices upon entering theproperty are a cleaver and a knife on a table. Eastwood changes tacthere, shooting the film like a horror piece. The slow burning sensationthat turns the idea of loosing a son, and getting the wrong one inreturn, is developed from a misunderstanding that just needs to besorted out to a real-time nightmare which suddenly comes complete withisolated shacks housing knifes and so forth.
Changeling is a scary film. Its premise to do with missing children andthe 'replacements' that are incorrect is harrowing. But the film'sinclusion of a certain male hatred of certain strong willed women thatcomes complete with a specific space in which those are rounded up andplaced within is equally as frightening, only on an entirely differentlevel. Eastwood directs this visually impressive period piecebrilliantly, with a real taste and acknowledgement towards his subjectmatter; while Angelina Jolie shines through in what might be her bestfilm to date. Changeling is most certainly worth the time.
July 26th, 2009
Wow, is this an involving story. It hooks you in fast and really grabshold. It's very good in that aspect because it really makes you careabout what happens. The story involves a parent's worst nightmare, so Iwould expect moms and dads to be particularly horrified. The moviemanipulates, no doubt being overdone here and there, but it's generallyeffective.
Angelina Jolie does a superb job of portraying a Los Angeles woman("Christine Collins") in the late 1920s whose boy is kidnapped. Fivemonths later, the "proud" police department brings her kid back, makingit a good PR session. Unfortunately, it's not her kid and stupidly,although she's naturally upset about, she poses with the kid and takeshim home. (Would that really happen?).
Then she begins her quest of finding her real "Walter." Further twistsand turns make the story increasingly horrifying. In all, you won't beable to keep your eyes off the screen wondering if justice will everprevail in the end and who exactly is involved in what. It's notparticularly a fun ride – you'll have a frown on your face for quitesome time – but it sure is interesting and an excellent two hour-plusof entertainment. By the end, you'll be emotionally exhausted.
Kudos to all the actors in here for riveting performances and to theproduction and design team for a great period piece. Where else can youfeel you're back 75-80 years in time with the boxy cars and flapperhats than in movies?
July 27th, 2009
This is a film that you just can't take your eyes off. It haseverything a good film should have and moves you in ways that maysurprise you. Angelina Jolie is excellent and you totally believe sheis experiencing these things. John Malkovich as Reverend GustavBriegleb, is very good and believable, Michael Kelly as detectiveLester Ybarra, is also perfectly cast. But the honour should surely goto Clint Eastwood who directs this film with such pace that what wouldnormally be too long for a film seems too short. At the end you mayfeel a little cheated and wish it could have continued, I know I did.The young actor playing the child accomplice is also really good andyou feel his emotion. I cannot recommend this film enough and despitesome errors and artistic licence it tells what must have been a trulyharrowing story of this poor woman's plight.
July 31st, 2009
On 09 March 1928 in Los Angeles, Christine Collins (Angeline Jolie)lives with her beloved son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) in LincolnHeights. When she is assigned to work in overtime on Saturday in ThePacific Telephone and Telegraph as supervisor, she promises Walter toreturn at 4:00 PM to watch the latest movie of Charles Chaplin on themovie theater with him. However, she arrives home late and does notfind her son; after seeking the boy out in the neighborhood, shereports the missing child to the police, but the police officer tellsthat she should wait twenty-four hours to register the complain. Fivemonths later, Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) communicates Mrs.Collins that her son had been found in DeKalb, Illinois, and is headingback home by train to reunite with her. In the train station, Christinedoes not recognize the boy as being Walter, but Captain advises herthat his appearance has changed in five months. Sooner she confirmsthat the boy is not her son, but the corrupt LAPD does not accept herarguments. When Mrs. Collins is approached by the St. Paul PresbyterianChurch Pastor Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovitch), who daily broadcastsprotests exposing the corruption of the police force, she decides todisclose the evidence she has about the changeling to the press.However, the abusive Captain Jones sends Christine to an asylum tointimidate her. Meanwhile the efficient Detective Lester Ybarra(Michael Kelly) is assigned to arrest and deport an illegal Canadianboy that is hidden in a ranch in Wineville. He captures the boy, whodiscloses hideous crimes committed by his compatriot Gordon Northcott(Jason Butler Harner).
"Changeling" is another powerful movie of Clint Eastwood based on atrue story. This movie is almost perfect, with magnificent direction,excellent screenplay, top-notch performances, awesome cinematography,sets, costumes, edition and soundtrack. I am not fan of Angeline Jolie,but her outstanding performance in this movie is certainly the bestrole of her career and deserved the nomination to the Oscar; furthershe has proved to me that she is a great actress indeed. Mrs. ChristineCollins was a great woman and her quest for her son is remarkable. Inthe end, she has walked the way she talked to her son – "Never start afighting, always finish it". My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): "A Troca" ("The Exchange")