Overview
“Changeling” is A 2008 American mystery crime/historical drama film set from the 1920s to the 1930s. The script is based on the real story of the 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop murders in Wineville (the present Mira Loma), California.
Directed by Clint Eastwood. 142 minutes.
Plot
In 1928 Los Angeles, single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) lives with her 9-year-old son Walter, working as a supervisor in a telephone exchange office. One day, Walter suddenly disappears while Christine is working.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) starts an investigation of the case the next day, but they cannot get any clues about Walter and time’s just passing by.
Five months later, Christine receives information that Walter was found in Illinois. She goes to the station to meet her son, but the boy who steps off the train is a different person from Walter.
Christine complains that it is mistaken identity, but Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), the head of the LAPD’s Juvenile Division, doesn’t admit his mistake. In association with Reverend Gustav Briegleb of the Presbyterian Church (John Malkovich), who has criticized the police for their misconduct, Christine asks Jones to reinvestigate, but Jones forces her to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital to silence her.
Commentary
“Changeling” depicts the struggle of a woman who tries to get back her son kidnapped by a serial killer with the background of social problems, such as police corruption, discrimination against women, and human rights abuses in psychiatric hospital.
It is a moving film that depicts a lonely struggle of a woman who is trying to live through an extreme hardship without giving up hope. The performance of Angelina Jolie is wonderful.
