Film of the week: The Changeling

Film of the week

By Mike Polanyk

The Changeling (15)

It’s a writer’s dream to unearth a great true story that had vanished into obscurity. This is one.

It’s about Christine Collins, whose invincible spirit brought down a corrupt police department and ushered in a new era of American law.

Writer Joe Straczynski stumbled upon it in the Los Angeles city archives and brought it to the attention of producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.

Clint Eastwood agreed to direct, and the result is another great film from a man who has rediscovered top form in the winter of his career.

We’re back in Los Angeles, in 1928. In a working-class suburb, single mother Collins (Angelina Jolie), says goodbye to her nine-year-old son, Walter, and leaves for her job as a telephone supervisor.

But when she returns to their modest home, she is confronted with every parent’s worst nightmare: her son has vanished.

It seems Walter has disappeared without a trace, but five months later, a child claiming to be her boy is returned by police who are eager to bask in the public relations coup.

Dazed by the swirl of cops, reporters, photographers and her own conflicted emotions, Christine is persuaded to take the boy home. But in her heart, she knows he is not Walter.

As she pushes the authorities to keep looking for her real son, Christine quickly learns that in 1920s LA, women don’t challenge the system and live to tell their story.

She finds an ally in community activist the Rev Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who helps her fight the city to look for her missing boy.

Facing corrupt police who question her sanity, and a sceptical public hungry for a fairy-tale ending, Christine desperately hunts for answers.

It seems the search won’t stop until she finds her real son – or someone shuts her up.

Eastwood has called this a film about “truth stranger than fiction’’.

It certainly is, and Jolie’s magnificent presence and Eastwood’s sweeping and assured direction makes this a terrific thriller.

The casting is distinctive, the drama beautifully constructed, and The Changeling is a thorough success and great entertainment.