Clint Eastwood is possibly a better director than he is an actor. He usually plays the same roles in films, always some sort of renegade good guy, only he might be in a suit in one film or dawning cowboy gear in the next.
He certainly has quite a great list of directorial credits : Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby and of course the Academy Award Nominated The Changeling starring Oscar winner and nomiated for this film, Angelina Jolie.
Based on a true story this film manages to portray an era & a fear that's still alive in this day and age in a emotional and breathtaking manner.
Jolie stars as mother Christine Collins who returns home one day to discover her nine-year-old son, Walter, is missing. She calls the police and, after enduring a grueling 24 hours, they search for her son. But the boy they return to her is not her son. After confronting corrupt city authorities, Collins is vilified as an unfit mother and sent to an asylum.
Angelina Jolie delivers another great performance. But unlike A Mighty Heart, this film actually deserves her presence, there is definitely reason for her acclaim as an actress. The situation her character goes through is so surreal and the film captures it perfectly.
This is a grueling film to watch. I have not felt this hideous since North Country, a film which also dealt with misogyny within the power structure. Women are treated as fragile, emotional, and not believable. This film tackles corruption to boot, as the LAPD is accused of being a gang of thugs that answer to no one. Eastwood is old school with the violence, understanding that the mind can fill in the very brutal gaps.
An odd praise goes out to Jason Butler Harner, who plays Gordon Northcott, a kidnapper and murderer of many children. He has played one of the monsters of everyone's nightmares to perfection. Also of note is Jeffrey Donovan for his portrayal of J. J. Jones, corruption personified. Jones is a man able to whisk people away to asylums with no need of warrants. Truly terrifying. As is any scene set in the asylum where Christine is wrongfully placed because she dared to question the corruption of the police force. Christine's motives are jstified in that she doesn't care at the start about bringing down the big bad law enforcers, she just wants them to tell her the truth and she wants her son. But when it becomes apparent that she needs to be firmer and that the police are not interested in her pleas, she decides to fight on. Thankfully some relief for Christine comes in the form of John Malkovich's character, Rev. Gustav A. Briegleb. Knowing that someone is there to help Christine and fight against the corruption is one of the few comforting moments in this film.
Cinematography and costume design are beautifully handled and the resetting of the era is managed well. It seems as though there is nothing more reliable than Eastwood behind the camera, with his assured touch his films are never boring or deliberately confusing, hiding technical devices or special effects that detract from the most important part of movie making: a good screenplay, a good story, good acting. The Academy may not have recognised the brillance and importance of this film, but it is truly one of the the best dramas that came out in 2008.
5/5
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