Los Angeles, 1928: On a Saturday morning in a working-class suburb, Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) said goodbye to her son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), and left for work. When she came home, she discovered he had vanished. A fruitless search ensues, and months later, a boy claiming to be the 9-year-old is returned. Dazed by the swirl of cops, reporters and her conflicted emotions, Christine allows him to stay overnight. But in her heart, she knows he is not Walter.
As she pushes authorities to keep looking, she learns that in Prohibition-era LA, women don't challenge the system and live to tell their story. Slandered as delusional and unfit, Christine finds an ally in activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich), who helps her fight the city to look for her missing boy. Based on the actual incident that rocked California's legal system, Changeling tells the shocking tale of a mother's quest to find her son, and those who won't stop until they silence her.
Special Agent Matti
In its time, The exchange (The changeling) was the kind of story that makes headlines, not for the initial crime but for the treatment of the survivors. Today, we expect the police to be corrupt, especially if we live in the USA, so the story is barely worth raising an eyebrow but watching Angelina Jolie going through a parent's worst nightmare (ie the disappearance of a child, not one of the other worse nightmares such as the illness of a child or the death of a child) is harrowing. Watching the cops do their best to blame the victim in the days before such things as victims' rights is not particularly pleasant either but we should bear witness to one of the events that gave us the freedom to stand up to police bullying without getting bashed, arrested or stuck in a psych ward.
The crime, thriller, true movie The exchange (The changeling) is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Amy Ryan.
MA 15+ (Strong themes)
141 minutes (2:21 hours)
Film: 5 February 2009
DVD retail: 17 June 2009
