Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Changeling (2008)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Time Out rating

Average user rating

43 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Great directors have an ability to make any material their own and take risks where others would demur. That is not to say that the subject of 78-year-old Clint Eastwood’s latest – the moving and true story of a traumatised lone mother (Angelina Jolie) who, in late 1920s Los Angeles, insists that the son returned to her by police following his kidnap is not hers – doesn’t involve themes and elements close to the director’s heart. It very much does: not least those of struggle against repressive systems, intolerable situations or impossible odds, a re-appraisal of the depiction of women and others seen as ‘second-class’ and an unflinching approach to the complexity, ironies, rituals and political implications of crime and violence, punishment and revenge.

But having said that, ‘Changeling’ is, for an essentially populist work, unexpectedly audacious, advancing way beyond the call of duty in all its basic four elements. Firstly, as a period-reconstruction costumer, it is meticulous to the point of affectionate in its realisation of the lost world of 1928 LA, while never allowing such ‘colour’ to obscure or upstage the human drama. As a police investigative procedural, too, it mounts a sober, credible, yet searing critique of the famously corrupt political and law enforcement establishment of the day, led by Chief Davis (Colm Feore). And, as a variation on the campaigning/woman-in-jeopardy movie, it illicits Jolie’s finest performance to date, as the woman, Christine Collins, who faces her worst nightmare – the kidnap of her 9-year-old son, while a child killer is known to be at work.

Jolie’s task is to show each calibration of her maddening dilemma (at one point she is incarcerated in a mental institution), caught as she is between suspended grief, fear, isolation, anger and – most movingly – her maternal feelings towards the imposter (Devon Conti) in her care. But, lastly, it is the restrained clarity of Eastwood’s exposition throughout this roller-coaster ride that is most impressive. He shows the horrors in the same way he observes Christine’s courage, all the while careful only to allow his sympathies to register by means of the tense and empathetic emotional line he keeps at every stage of his heroine’s hellish experiences. It’s a tough movie but also rewarding and inspiring: something of a quiet triumph.

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 1997, November 29 – December 3, 2008

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Phil White said...

Posted on Oct 13 2011 19:16 A moving movie on powerful themes`tho` a tad thin on credibility when dealing with the initial police response to the mother. The illustration of corrupt power demonstrates the potential for evil in contemporary society if good people say nothing. Apart from the strange, mannered performance of malkovich (not entirely unconvincing) and a somewhat two-dimensional policeman I felt the casting and direction worked well. The film made me seethe with anger at the arrogance and the lack of care depicted by officialdom and to be roused in support of those standing against it.he comment you type in this box will appear on the site

Report as inappropriate
cobnut1234 said...

Posted on Jun 17 2011 00:58 I thought AJ's acting was wooden like her body language - she didn't look like anybody's mother let alone that miserable child at the beginning of the film. She didn't even watch him walk into school when she got back on the bus - she was emotionally unconvincing in every scene. The best character was the cop who discovered the bodies at least he gave that poor digging kid a cuddle.

Report as inappropriate
kent girl said...

Posted on Dec 23 2009 16:13 BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!! Great, moving story...everyone should see it

Report as inappropriate
orangefizz said...

Posted on Jul 13 2009 09:50 I loved changeling. I'm not too familiar with Jolie's back catalogue in fact I've usually avoided it but she impressed by this role. But she doesnt blanket the film and there are other roles , in particular John malkovich and the guy who played the captain for the LAPD who comliment the progression of the film. Such a tragic story and I think that was where I got sucked in. It was great.

Report as inappropriate
Emma Dryden said...

Posted on Mar 23 2009 23:10 Simply awful, Eastwood must be the most overrated director ever -this film would have been much better at the hands of, say, Paul Thomas Anderson, or M. Figgis, removing the irritating sentimentalism . As for Jolie what an excruciatingly dull and vain non-actress she is! Just try and magine Kate Winslet or Cate Blanchet in that part and you know how shortchanged you are by this mountain of bad acting and bad directing. How unreliable the Time Out review is!

Report as inappropriate
Kev said...

Posted on Jan 03 2009 17:08 Excellent film!
Angelina Jolie is excellent in the role of Christine Collins, and proves she can act in this film.

Report as inappropriate
marmitelover said...

Posted on Dec 29 2008 12:50 Even the make up doesn't deserve an oscar being wrong for the era (sparkly?). Angelina Jolie merely adequate, covers her mouth with her hands all the time. The moment when she discovers her boy is definitely missing is pathetic: she delicately places a gloved hand near her mouth, careful not to smudge her lipstick or make up. Same for the asylum hose down scene, she emerges again with full make up. Excuse me, how vain is this actress? Can the 'most beautiful woman in the world' not present her naked face to the world, even when her role requires it?
Imagine what the film would have been like with a good actress, Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter.

Report as inappropriate
Zoe said...

Posted on Dec 29 2008 10:55 not watched it yet. sounds awesome. i luv angelina jolie. she's a wicked actor. can't wait 2 watch it.

Report as inappropriate
Lozle said...

Posted on Dec 28 2008 17:22 This film was amazing. Im not a huge fan of Angelina Jolie but this flm has totally changed that. The film was brilliantly acted and the story was very moving . Being basd on true events makes the film that whole lot more touching. Definately reccommened!

Report as inappropriate
paul said...

Posted on Dec 24 2008 13:17 brilliant! but a weepie
good story, great action
go and see it

Report as inappropriate
sylvester said...

Posted on Dec 22 2008 22:18 I went expecting great things from an Eastwood film, but those quivering red lips overwhelmed the film. What lipstick was she wearing that cannot be rubbed off even through trauma, incarceration, tears and hysteria. I thought the filming was excellent, the story was interesting and should have been harrowing and moving, but Angelina is a celebrity personality not an actor - at least not in this film, and I was unable to take the film seriously, particularly with the Kiera moment in the shower at the mental hospital. Has Angelina ever been to one of these institutions?

Report as inappropriate
JOHN P said...

Posted on Dec 20 2008 10:03 Director Eastwood tries to cover to many bases, including LA police corruption, abuse in mental hospitals, child abduction, public hangings, slasher killings...you just wind up exhausted and confused. As for Angelina Jolie---who seems to have no relationship with anyone in the film and her son who;s quickly abducted in the first fifteen minutes---overacts to the hilt and, to make matters sillier, looks like she;s wearing some sort of white-face mask. Pretty bad.

Report as inappropriate
thomas nestor said...

Posted on Dec 18 2008 21:03 this film was brilliant what-ever mister or miss miles sickalin says. its pretty obvious that the latter would not know a good film if it jumped up and bit them

Report as inappropriate
miles said...

Posted on Dec 16 2008 18:09 sick SICKALING
she just keeps sobbing and that is supposed to be cinema
that is while she is not shrieking
it is the worst melodrama i have ever seen
what a farce
how could somebody like eastwood make this sheer waste of celluloid

Report as inappropriate
LIKE GOOD FILMS said...

Posted on Dec 15 2008 17:33 I HAVNT SEEN THIS FILM BUT IT SOUNDS VERY MOVING AND I WOULD LIKE TO GO AND SEE IT

Report as inappropriate