There's something to be said about movies that can absolutely humiliate and embarrass "the man" to the point where you almost start feeling bad for them, with the exception of anything Michael Moore does but fuck that guy. Anyway, Changeling rips into the 1930s LAPD as if they were Super Troopers labeled as a drama. Filled with incompetence, corruption, and power, the mistakes that they made around the disappeared son of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) are ones that eventually made the force a laughing stock to the point where an entire town renamed itself just to get away from it all.
However, this film is more around the abduction of Walter Collins, Christine's son who disappears and, as an attempt to give the police some well needed good press, reunite her with someone who they claim to be her long lost child five months later ignoring the fact that he's shorter and thinner (and could have had boobs, these guys just choose to be oblivious because the press is THAT important). Going as far as being thrown into a mental institution for her claim, Christine's journey to not just find her son, but prove that the one she has isn't hers is one that takes her into the depths of corruption, murder, and going to extremes for the sake of saving face. Changeling, which is based on a true story, is painful to watch at times because you know people are willing to be this ignorant, and this downright cruel to satisfy their own agenda, and Clint Eastwood doesn't hold back at all here and as a result, he has created a downright powerful film that I will be remembering for…paragraphs to come.
Something else worth mentioning is Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), a religious activist who uses his radio show to broadcast stories of corruption and deceit in the local government. He's not so extreme that he leads a blind call to arms like…every other one out there, but he is merely a man seeking the truth, and the tale of Collins family is exactly the kind of story that shows just how bad it's gotten. He's not looking for any easy passes to fame here by denouncing this evil that is the LAPD (wow, lots of jokes there…), he just refuses to stand idly by and watch the suffering of this poor woman, and as a man with the power to do so, he tries to make a change. Changeling doesn't try to do more than it needs to by adding other personal greed into the mix and I appreciated that. This is the story of the Collins abduction, who affected it, and who was affected by it.
Lastly, there's Gordon Northcott, a serial murderer who ranks up along the lines of Dahmer and Manson as a twisted, deranged soul that could have a college class made around him. Played expertly by Jason Butler Harner, Gordon never becomes an overwhelming factor of the film (though you'd understand if he did), but he makes an impression that will haunt me for days to come. A lot of it comes from the fact that Changeling doesn't waste time explaining his character, they just show you that he's a creepy fuck child-killer and the mystery behind that just digs into you and doesn't let go. But again, the film doesn't try to do more than it needs to, and though he could be one of the creepiest killers in modern movie history, this movie isn't about him. It's about the Collins abduction.
It's easy to give Jolie crap for her roles in things like Tomb Raider and the "Adopt 500 African Babies Show" (check local Telemundo listings), but this is the woman who won the Golden Globe for her role as Gia, then rocked our world with her amazing performance in Girl, Interrupted (…as a mental patient…let's not dwell on the theme here, shall we?) . Changeling is finally another one of those movies that shows off her talent instead of how big you can make her boobs look (heard Kleenex's stock soared for Tomb Raider…which can be taken the completely wrong way…).
This movie just flowed well from the beginning and had me captivated from the very start, even including a moment where I had to let out a huge gasp and almost broke down because it was just that moving. Wow, I'm reading this and this is all synopsis and no humor and fun. Well crap, just going to have to finish this up with, I would easily watch this movie again. Got a little boring at times, but nothing that's going to screw it over. All things considered, I give this a very good 9 dustbusters out of 10.
Hm, you actually talked me into this one. I hadn't seen it before for a few reasons:
ReplyDeleteFirst, I find period pieces hard to watch sometimes. They have to be extraordinarily well done, or I feel like I'm watching a group of people play dress-up. Although, having said that, if anyone knows how to set a film in a particular time and place, it's Eastwood, so I guess I shouldn't be worried.
Second, it looked dark and depressing and (though I may be wrong) I couldn't see a happy ending on the horizon, and I have to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy (??) those kinds of films. Movies that involve kids go even one step further and REALLY weird me out.
And last, Jolie is SO hit-and-miss that I was afraid she it would be a hard performance to watch. Having said that...I like Jolie, LOVE Eastwood, and the story sounds interesting.
Added to queue. :)
The ending for this is pretty bittersweet and this movie is pretty depressing, but it's dwarfed but anger at how the whole thing is being handled, which makes it that much better when things start turning around.
ReplyDelete