Changeling

In 1928 Los Angeles, single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) returns home one day to discover her nine-year-old son, Walter (Griffith), is missing. Reverend Gustav Briegleb (Malkovich) publicizes Christine's plight and rails against the Los Angeles Police Department for its incompetence, corruption and the extrajudicial punishment meted by its "Gun Squad", led by Police Chief James E. Davis (Feore). Several months later, Christine is told that her son has been found alive. A reunion is organized at Union Station by police, who believe that the positive publicity will negate recent criticism of the department. When Christine sees "Walter" (Conti) she doesn't recognize him. Captain Jones (Donovan) pressures a confused Christine into taking the boy home "on a trial basis".

After Christine confronts Jones with physical discrepancies between "Walter" and her son, Jones has a doctor visit her. He tells Christine that "Walter" is shorter because trauma has shrunk his spine, and pressures neighborhood children and an adult neighbor with poor eyesight into identifying the boy as Walter. A newspaper story appears that implies Christine is an unfit mother. Christine meets with Briegleb, who tells her the story was planted by police to discredit her. He also tells her of the corruption rife in the department, and of the Gun Squad's despotic rule over the city's streets. Walter's teacher and dentist give Christine signed letters confirming that "Walter" is an imposter. Christine arranges a press conference during which she tells her story. At Jones' order, Christine is taken to Los Angeles County Hospital's psychopathic ward. Christine is befriended by inmate Carol Dexter (Ryan), who tells Christine she is one of several women who were imprisoned for challenging police authority. Dr. Steele (O'Hare) deems Christine delusional and forces her to take mood-regulating pills. Steele says he will release Christine if she admits she was mistaken about "Walter". She refuses.

Detective Ybarra (Kelly) is called to a ranch at Wineville, Riverside County to arrange a boy's deportation to Canada. Ybarra discovers 15-year-old Sanford Clark. The boy's cousin, Gordon Northcott (Harner), has fled after being unwittingly alerted by Ybarra to his visit. Northcott steals a truck after killing its driver. Clark tells Ybarra that Northcott forced him to assist in kidnapping and murdering approximately twenty children. Clark identifies Walter as one of them. Jones tells Briegleb that Christine is in protective custody following a mental breakdown. Jones orders Clark deported, but Ybarra makes Clark reveal the murder site. Briegleb secures Christine's release by showing Steele a newspaper that details the Wineville killings and names Walter as a possible victim. "Walter" reveals his motive was to secure transportation to Los Angeles to see his favorite actor. Northcott is captured in Canada. Christine has an attorney (Pierson) secure a court order to release the women unfairly imprisoned by police.

On the day of the city council's hearing into the case, Christine and Briegleb flee police who they believe want to prevent her testifying. Outside Los Angeles City Hall they encounter thousands of protestors who are demanding answers from the city. The hearing is intercut with scenes from Northcott's trial, which is being held nearby. The council concludes that Jones and Davis should be removed from duty, and that extrajudicial interments by police must be reviewed. Northcott is found guilty of murder and is sentenced to death by hanging. Two years later, Christine has not given up her search for Walter. She is told that Northcott is willing to admit killing Walter on condition that Christine meets with him before his execution. Northcott then refuses to tell her whether or not he killed her son, and he is executed the next day. In 1935, David Clay—one of the boys assumed to have been killed—is found alive. He reveals that one of the boys with whom he was imprisoned was Walter. David, Walter and another boy escaped, but were separated. David doesn't know whether Walter was recaptured, giving Christine hope that he is alive.

Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" made me feel sympathy, and then anger, and then back around again. It is the factual account of a mother whose little boy disappeared, and of a corrupt Los Angeles Police Department running wild. Angelina Jolie stars as Christine Collins, whose 9-year-old son, Walter, went missing in March 1928. Some months later, the LAPD announced her son had been found alive in DeKalb, Ill.

There was a problem. Collins said the boy was not hers. The police, under fire for lawlessness and corruption, had positioned the case as an example of their good work. They were determined to suppress Collins' protests. Even though the returned boy was three inches shorter than Walter, was not recognized by his teacher and classmates, and had dental records that did not match, Collins was informed that she was crazy and locked up in a psychiatric ward on the strength of a captain's signature.

If her "rediscovered son" was a poster boy for the cops, her disappearance became the cause of an early radio preacher named the Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who had been thundering against police corruption. Meanwhile, a determined detective named Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) was led to the buried bodies of 20 young boys on an isolated chicken ranch outside Winesville, Calif.

Eastwood's telling of this story isn't structured as a thriller, but as an uncoiling of outrage. It is clear that the leaders of the LAPD serve and protect one thing: its own tarnished reputation. Collins joins many other female prisoners whose only crime was to annoy a cop. The institution drugs them, performs shock treatment, punishes any protest. Mental illness is treated as a crime. This is all, as the film observes, based on a true story.

Eastwood is one of the finest directors now at work. I often say I'm mad at Fassbinder for dying at 38 and denying us decades of his films. In a way, I'm also mad at Eastwood for not directing his first film until he was 41. We could not do without his work as an actor. But most of his greatest films as a director have come after "retirement age." Some directors start young and get tired. Eastwood is only gathering steam.

Resilient single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) turns to the police for help after her young son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), is kidnapped in 1920s Los Angeles. A break in the case leads Christine to believe her son has been discovered, but when she goes to greet him she immediately realizes the boy (Devon Conti) isn’t actually her son. Fearful of bad publicity, Chief James E. Davis (Colm Feore) and Capt. J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) close the case, ignoring Christine’s protests and forcing her to care for the boy while her real son remains missing. Most disturbing of all, this is based on a true story.

The buzz: Director Clint Eastwood has enjoyed a stretch of critically acclaimed dramas ("Mystic River, "Million Dollar Baby," "Flags of Our Fathers" and “Letters From Iwo Jima”) but it wasn’t so long ago that he botched the movie version of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and made forgettable mysteries like “True Crime” and “Blood Work.” So when “Changeling” premiered to divisive reviews at the Cannes film festival, it was easy to believe it might either be a great movie or a dud.

The verdict: Not one of Eastwood’s best films but an engrossing tale nonetheless, "Changeling" is all the more compelling for its stranger than