CINEMA: Changeling

In which Angelina Jolie once again (after A Mighty Heart) demonstrates just what a fine actress she is, while director Clint Eastwood delivers yet another finely made (if somewhat plodding and depressing) movie.

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In 1928 single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) arrived home from work in LA to find her nine-year-old son Walter had gone missing. With no reported sightings and no leads the police were at a loss as to what had happened to him. Then, five months later, they informed her that Walter had been found and arranged what was to be an emotional reunion in front of the press. However, things did not go according to plan because the boy produced was not Walter – Christine knew that the moment she set eyes on him. What followed became a bitter battle between Christine insisting he was not her son and the police repeatedly saying he was and that she must be mentally unstable if she did not recognise him. Luckily, Christine had one staunch ally, Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who was determined to see justice done and Christine reunited with her real son.

This long, worthy film unfolds at a snail’s pace, which give Jolie time to impress as Christine and Malkovich to overact as Briegleb. It also rather outstays its welcome seemingly not knowing where to end in the story.  You will be appalled at the way Christine was treated by those who were meant to protect and help her and yet the film remains cold and somewhat distant, lacking the immediacy needed for you to feel a real bond with its central characters.      Dee Pilgrim