Changeling
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Geoff Pierson, Colm Feore, Denis O'Hare, Eddie Alderson, Devon Gearhart, and Gattlin Griffith
Release Date: October 24, 2008
Review written sometime in October 2014
Changeling begins with every intention to be as quiet as ever in its tale. A single mother—Ms. Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie)—and her son—Walter (Gattlin Griffith)—go through the routine of the day and the music that accompanies them insists on keeping things away from the sensational. As the routine makes way for the next day and the subsequent sequence of events, the complacency of the pace gives way to a disturbing accumulation of grisly happenstances. Walter goes missing and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) does not miss a beat to show its incompetence and insensitivity in handling the case. The boy brought back to Ms. Collins isn't the right Walter, but the LAPD won't admit to its mistake. Instead, Ms. Collins is asked to try the boy for a while, which she does. A while later, armed with medical proof and the obvious fact that he is three inches shorter than her son, she decides to take on the LAPD. Which is when the LAPD introduces her to its psychotic set of cruel methods to arm-twist anyone into silence.
Thereafter, no moment in Changeling allows you to think it silent or placid. The movie begins to strip humanity off its facetiousness and in the bargain the problems that it withheld in its gown—problems and issues that swirled around the mother and child—come tumbling out to make for a very grim spectacle of murder, sexism, lies, and plain old evil.
Naturally then, Changeling is definitely not about mother and child alone. It's about agony, angst, freedom, empowerment, and a steely gritty will to get to the heart of the matter and thus bring about justice. Clint Eastwood directs every scene with just about the right dash of old world charm. The pace is unhurried - slow even to the point of it beginning to look like a flaw. But that is enmeshed with some brilliant photography that succeeds in distracting you enough to keep your interest alive in the movie. The visuals make it their duty to focus on what's happening rather than on who all are making it happen. Simplicity in what's shown is adhered to as if it were a stylistic necessity and consequently, that draws you to feel for, and resent, the characters bound into the frames of this enterprise.
Angelina Jolie does her act very well. Her outbursts are at first feeble and then firm and authoritative as her character changes her tactics of dealing with the LAPD. Her accent is well cultivated and her resilience is remarkable in moments wherein she is the grieving mother. And yet, her frame is rather too delicately poised and a bit too sophisticated for a woman who is supposed to be a telephone operator in the 1920s. Not to mention the coats she dons and the hats she wears. Immaculate is the word that best describes her makeup and not even once does she let the grind of being a single mother make her look plain and haggard. However, you can easily overlook those cosmetic embellishments for Jolie does lend a heartfelt performance to the script.
As does John Malkovich, who as Reverend Gustav Briegleb, spews fire and is as gentle as a breeze when the situation demands it of him. He is dignified yet outspoken and makes his presence felt.
Then there's Jeffrey Donovan as the vicious brute of a police officer. Donovan IS Captain J. J. Jones - if records of Jones's character and behaviour are anything to go by. He invites you to hate him the moment he smiles and condemn him when he throws Ms. Collins into the psychiatric ward. The man pulls out every inch of hatred from you and directs it all at himself with his compelling portrayal.
Equally riveting and accurate is Jason Butler Harner's portrayal of Gordon Northcott: the main suspect in the case. Harner embodies his version of Northcott with a disguised lunacy and a fickleness that arises from a morbid fear of being caught for the the crime. Consequently, Harner is repulsive, detestable, and succeeds in garnering no sympathy at all.
The rest of the cast ably compliments the leads and together they bring to life that year in the 1920s, which dug a gargantuan hole into the reputation of Los Angeles.
The movie seems to have weighed every element of the scandal and the accompanying sensation, mixed them all in proportions that do not allow any aspect of any event to dominate over the other, and brought the sequence of happenings to a haunting—almost foreboding—conclusion. Changeling strives to not scream and go over the top with melodrama and I must say Eastwood reigned it all in with sophisticated charm and ingenuity. Camera angles keep away from innovation - they change as noiselessly as the quiet angst of the Mrs.Collins goes from despair to muted outrage. Dialogue is kept simple too and whittled down to what's essential. Several scenes have hardly any talk in them and yet, the pang they strike your heart with is devastating. Quite naturally then, splashes of colour are very minimalistic as well. It's as if the ambience of the crime and its aftermath robbed off all the vibrant hues and that works to Changeling's advantage.
Here, then, is a movie that does not compromise on the facts of the Wineville chicken coop murders (on which it is partly based). Nor does it shy away from arresting our attention with the cruelty of the crime it depicts and the heinousness of what follows thereafter. It hangs every minute sordid detail out on the clothesline in the front yard of the house with stark visual honesty. And amidst it all, Changeling decides to do something even more important with astute sincerity: It champions the cause of a shy nondescript petite woman who decided that come what may, she will always stand for something quite popularly known as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
References:
Changeling. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Perf. Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Jason Butler Harner. Universal Pictures, 2008. DVD.
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Geoff Pierson, Colm Feore, Denis O'Hare, Eddie Alderson, Devon Gearhart, and Gattlin Griffith
Release Date: October 24, 2008
Review written sometime in October 2014
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| Angelina Jolie and Gattlin Griffith: Mother and son talk about cereal. |
Thereafter, no moment in Changeling allows you to think it silent or placid. The movie begins to strip humanity off its facetiousness and in the bargain the problems that it withheld in its gown—problems and issues that swirled around the mother and child—come tumbling out to make for a very grim spectacle of murder, sexism, lies, and plain old evil.
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| The plain yet noble visuals capture the very essence of life in the Los Angeles of the 1920s. |
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| Angelina Jolie is at her histrionic best. |
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| John Malkovich does a fine job as the fiery obstinate crusader. |
Then there's Jeffrey Donovan as the vicious brute of a police officer. Donovan IS Captain J. J. Jones - if records of Jones's character and behaviour are anything to go by. He invites you to hate him the moment he smiles and condemn him when he throws Ms. Collins into the psychiatric ward. The man pulls out every inch of hatred from you and directs it all at himself with his compelling portrayal.
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| The Bad and The Ugly: Jeffrey Donovan (left) and Jason Butler Harner (right) |
The rest of the cast ably compliments the leads and together they bring to life that year in the 1920s, which dug a gargantuan hole into the reputation of Los Angeles.
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| A skeletal usage of colour coupled with restrained camera angles lend Changeling a mysterious haunting aura. |
Here, then, is a movie that does not compromise on the facts of the Wineville chicken coop murders (on which it is partly based). Nor does it shy away from arresting our attention with the cruelty of the crime it depicts and the heinousness of what follows thereafter. It hangs every minute sordid detail out on the clothesline in the front yard of the house with stark visual honesty. And amidst it all, Changeling decides to do something even more important with astute sincerity: It champions the cause of a shy nondescript petite woman who decided that come what may, she will always stand for something quite popularly known as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
References:
Changeling. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Perf. Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Jason Butler Harner. Universal Pictures, 2008. DVD.
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