Movie Review - The Changeling

What would I do if I came home from work one day and Hanan was missing? And 5 months later, the police brought me a boy who looked like but distinctly was NOT Hanan. And told me that I was to accept him because I am obviously traumatised and can't recognise my own child?

This was the preposterous situation experienced by Christine Collins (played dismally by Angelina 'I'm too cool to be distraught" Jolie), who had to deal with the grief of losing her only child, being accused as a irresponsible mother by the authorities and eventually thrown into the lunatic asylum for daring to oppose the ultimate authority of the state.

A lot of this movie, I really enjoyed. I loved the noir-ish treatment that Eastwood gave it, befitting the period as well as the terrifying and sobering storyline. The familiarity of the noir elements like the shadow of blinds across the faces, the stark interrogation room, and the symbolism of burning cigarettes and torrential rain at key moments of the film kept it a movie, allowing me to remove my emotions, which only surfaced when I remembered,"Oh hell, this is a true story."

I also really enjoyed Eastwood's cinematic narrative style, his variance of scene lengths and camera angles was a pleasure to watch, after the recent penchant by newer movie makers for shaky cameras and extreme closeups, which can be nauseating.

It pleased me that for once, the church was accurately presented as a force of righteousness and justice in a dark world. John Malkovich (ironically) plays the fearless and vocal Man of God who is not afraid to come against that powers that be for what he believes is right. I like.

So, other than the terrifying fact that this actually happened to someone, and that Angelina's posturing ruined the movie for me, this was quite watchable.

Heh.