Changeling Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

YES, ANG CAN ACT... SHE HAS AN OSCAR, DON'T YOU KNOW...

La Jolie is brilliant at kicking butt, no doubt about it. Yet it is easy to forget that behind the action stylings of Lara Croft, Wanted's Fox or loooong time ago (but unfortunately not forgotten) Gone In 40 Seconds hides a seriously talented actress. After all, Angelina did win an Academy Award for a brilliant performance in Girl, Interrupted.

There are shadows of just that film to be found in Changeling, of course. But the leading lady's powerful performance during an enforced stint in a Psychiatric Hospital is by no means the only strong point of this Clint Eastwood directed, true story gut wrencher.

Eastwood is a seasoned director, established and respected for the likes of Million Dollar Baby or the early Unforgiven. This then, is another big credit to him. The films muted colours, sets and performances are immersing, harrowing and credible. The story is one that is so close to home with recent events, yet so unbelievable, it borders on estrangement. The point that Eastwood makes, through his film and the actors' and actresses' outstanding deliveries is: this happened. And like it or not, it was not all that long ago.

Christine Collins (Jolie) is a single mum who returns home from work one afternoon to find her son Walter has disappeared. When the police weeks later present her with a child they claim is Walter, Christine knows this is not her son. She soon sees herself bullied and forced into silence by a corrupt police department that would rather throw a woman undermining its competence into a psychiatric hospital than admit an error.

I will not spoil the film by giving away any more of the story, but it is twisting, red-herringed and gripping to the very end. Changeling is by no means an easy watch or a walk in the park, but for those who like their drama haunting and their performances powerful, this is just the ticket.

BRILLIANT.

SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED

* GONE BABY GONE

* GIRL, INTERRUPTED

* LA CONFIDENTIAL

Snooze!

Avoid, overlong rubbish!