CHANGELING: AMAZING STORY, NOT SO AMAZING FILM
February 12th 2009 07:16
Angelina Jolie stares down the system as Christine Collins in Changeling.
The second part of Clint Eastwood’s two-pronged attack on this year’s Academy Awards, Changeling is an altogether different beast to Gran Torino. Where Gran Torino is small and tight, Changeling is sprawling; while Torino is intimate, Changeling is sweeping in its scope. Unfortunately, for all its ambition, Changeling turns out to be the weaker of the two films, a victim of its own ambition and a shockingly bizarre true story.
Angelina Jolie plays Chistine Collins, a single mother who early in April of 1928 suffers the horror of having her young son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith) go missing while she’s covering an extra shift at work. Some months later, when the LAPD claim to have found Walter, Collins’ initial adulation is shattered when the boy who hops off the train turns out to be a stranger. Overcome with emotion in front of the police and an eager press contingent, Collins’ takes the boy into her house, convinced by LAPD captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) that she’s simply suffering from severe shock. The police, however, have made a terrible mistake and one that they are increasingly unwilling to confess to.
As the quietly obstinate Collins refuses to toe the party line, the corrupt Prohibition-era LAPD begin to go to reprehensible lengths to discredit her story and keep her quiet. But when a young Canadian is discovered to be residing illegally on a ranch outside of Los Angeles, his arrest sets in motion a remarkable series of events that will pull back the curtain on the deeply corrupt system and finally put the wheels of justice in motion.
The story at the heart of Changeling is a fascinating one and lends itself well to some startling cinema. J. Michael Straczynski’s screenplay is excellent in the early stages at quickly sketching Collins’ character and the strong bond she shares with her young son; once Walter goes missing and the rollercoaster goes vertical, the audience is strapped in tightly for the emotional ride. For his part, Eastwood keeps the pacing brisk and the players answer the call with some marvellous performances.
Collins is shocked when the child that is returned to her is not her own.
But as Changeling rolls on towards its conclusion the film begins to lose some of its early impact. Straczynski’s script meanders with the minutiae of the tale and the film slowly unravels as it gets pulled between Collins’ personal story and the developments arising from a grizzly find at the afore mentioned ranch. In the final act there are whole scenes that are completely unnecessary, like the filmmakers were baffled as to how to conclude Collins’ story and steady character development, deciding instead upon a scattershot approach that would hopefully satisfy most members of the audience. Strangely, it feels like Eastwood and his collaborators became prisoner to their determination to tell the tale as truthfully as they could, in the process disregarding the need to bring their film to a satisfactory close.
It’s a shame too, because it does so much so well. Besides the excellent craft on display technically, Changeling is an education in brilliant casting and features some staggering performances. The much-maligned Angelina Jolie is fantastic as Christine Collins, her grasp of nuance in full effect as she communicates the character’s early grief and later dignity with at times very little dialogue. Likewise, there are few performers more exhilarating than an indignant John Malkovich and so he is as Collins’ sole early ally and fervent LAPD critic, Reverend Gustav Briegleb. In smaller roles, Jeffrey Donovan impresses as the dictatorial and aggressive J.J. Jones, while Geoff Pierson brings the whole weight of his intimidating gravitas to the role of attorney S.S. Hahn, who took on Collins’ case pro bono, so shocked he was at her treatment by the authorities.
John Malkovich as Reverend Gustav Briegleb and Geoff Pierson as attorney S.S. Hahn are part of an intimidating supporting cast.
Ultimately, Changeling isn’t a bad film, just a disappointing one. It starts off brilliantly, but like a meteorite hitting the Earth’s atmosphere it slowly burns away to something not nearly as significant as its initial power and brilliance suggests. You can’t help but feel the script could have done with a few more drafts to iron out the patchy ending. Perhaps if the filmmakers had moved further away from the details of the truth they could have cut a neater conclusion; then again, maybe it was hard to do that when the story is so preposterous you wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t true. In any case Changeling misses the mark slightly, being a great story but not such a great motion picture.
Check out the trailer for Changeling below:
| 96 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Mountain Fog
Comment by Natalie 2
My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog
I really expected to be moved by the film. Given the subject matter, I was left wondering if I was a philistine for not being more emotional. But, it just didn't touch me like it should have.
Instead, I found myself marveling more at the perfect red pout of Ms. Jolie than agonizing over the tragic circumstances of the characters.
In fact, there were a few scenes that I found down right silly. The over-acting was painful in places, and I can't for the life of me believe that it would have received a single nomination if it were not for the Academy's love affair with Mr. Eastwood.
Comment by Matt Shea
Yep, it's really not quite up to scratch, is it? I just feel that if they'd really worked out the wonky script a bit more it could have been great.
No disrespect to Mr Eastwood - he's great - but he has his misses at times like any director, and this is probably one of them.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by Matt Shea
Although it hopefully means we'll get quite a few crackers out of him yet.
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Great review as usual Matt!
Comment by Matt Shea
They were odd scenes weren't they?
I just thought that, structurally, it lost its balance in the final third and fell apart a little. There's little faulting the craft on display, however.