Only a few times have I put myself out on a limb and called my shot like Babe Ruth regarding Oscar nominations for films, let alone wins. The last nomination I mentioned as a practical “guarantee” was in writing that Alan Arkin was most deserving for, Little Miss Sunshine, and I was pretty dead on there. So mark my words, forget forerunner and just a nomination, the Clint Eastwood directed, Changeling, will probably win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Why so?

Beyond striking all the key points required to gain the Academy’s attention, the late 1920s, early 1930s Los Angeles based film just happens to be the more damning, entertaining, and socially relevant films of 2008. Even if it tries a bit too hard for the gold statue, even making allusions to the Academy Awards and the Capra classic "It Happened One Night." Yet, as it struck an accord with the audience, I realized its fiery, elegiac deftness. People truly being uplifted while cheering on a true-life underdog fighting the tremendous burden and sway of a city’s unfortunate ills.

Establishing mother-son rapport in its swift, warm opening scene, Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) is the antithesis of the traditional stay at home mom of the times. As the husbandless, single parent is called in to work her phone operator supervisor job — revealed through a humorous and historically insightful visual framework of rollerskating women and a cornucopia of America represented by the mazework of developing technology — it ruins an event planned day promised to her son Walter for his birthday. Unbeknownst to her, it will be her last vision of the boy as an inconceivable nightmare is only just beginning when Walter comes up missing after she returns from work to an empty house.

Right away, she experiences the type of bureaucracy that will lead her on an unimaginable journey that forces an already fairly strong willed, independent woman, to become an unrelenting crusader for social justice. A woman able to awaken the City of Angels’ citizens into political action against police corruption and the type of societal ills disclosure which never gets old from my end.

The compelling, based on true-life story takes a twisted turn from worried consternation after the boy remains missing for awhile, to a mother’s whole world further sent into a tailspin after the young boy’s disappearance has seemingly been miraculously resolved when a young boy the police claims is her son, is forcefully returned to her even though she recognizes the mistake immediately.

After an emotionally frank attack on the possible imposter boy, the dilemma as to who the boy is remains in dispute as her steadfast belief maintains even though the boy insist he’s her little boy. For a woman who is already on an emotional edge as you can only imagine, it only serves to strengthen her resolve and makes her eventual reconciliation, if you can call it that, equally poignantly and painfully sad.

Without revealing too much of the suspense driven story, before being “institutionalized,” Christine enlist the support of a fire and brim clergyman, Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who’s entire makeup seems to be forged by his vicious, unrelenting radio show rants and attacks on corruption in Los Angeles. Specifically, within the police force. Malkovich perfectly embodies a clergyman who seems more politician than pastor — a man of action with an exactingly coiffed hairstyle, and who exudes the immediate gravitas and intrigue required of the role.

When the film appears to have reached its dramatic apex, it successfully incorporates a downbeat story element involving a possible suspect in the case, a suspect who devastates the film’s core in an entirely new, exciting, and conflicted direction — which only muddles the “truth” of what exactly happened to Walter. The new direction also infuses the film with a intensely dark and creepy mood, but ultimately creates added borderline pathological hope in a woman walking the fine line between sanity.

For those intrigued by the long histories of police corruption (and such films) in our major metropolis’ like Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles, the depiction is a sight to see. The film flourishes not by minutiae of detail in the expose, but through broad strokes that provides just the right detail into the bureaucracy beast and fighting such a system, without overkill.

Beyond the missing child anguish, the gripping and challenging issues brought forth by the film include such always topical and polarizing issues like the death penalty, spiritual forgiveness, psychiatric hospital abuses; misguided policies during the era, and areas of forensic psychology.

I must admit, I expected a solid film, but Eastwood with writer J. Michael Straczynski (a familiar name to Babylon 5 fans) really captures the era and emotional turmoil experienced by all, including antagonistic villains keeping our heroine from finding out the exact truth. As usual, Eastwood’s minimalist approach is apparent yet doesn’t take away from the epic feel of this woman’s ill-fated journey. Strong production values and nuanced performances all around, especially from Jolie, a corrupt police captain played by Jeffrey Donovan, smug Dr. Steele (Denis O’Hare), the unsuspecting but drawn into the puzzle, Detective Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly), and a character you won't soon forget, Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner).

Don't get me wrong, the film is certainly problematic on several fronts. The title is certainly enigmatic. But essentially Changeling successfully stresses many of the social ills which continue today, and with probably Eastwood’s most socially affective film yet, and certainly better than the superfluously acclaimed Mystic River, the film will be a distinguished addition to an already varied, first-rate oeuvre.

© by Julian Boyance, completed, October 31, 2008