Last night I decided I had had too much TV and needed to head out, after all, there’s only so much SVU a girl can take. So I headed off to Liffey Valley’s Vue cinema to see a film I’ve been meaning to see for a while now.  Clint Eastwood’s Changeling is the first film in a long while that I’ve been looking forward to seeing.  For some reason the films out of late haven’t caught my attention.

The film stars Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins, a single mother who, in 1928, comes home from work to be faced with every parents nightmare, her son, 9-year old Walter, is nowhere to be found.  Upon scouring the neighbourhood she calls the police who tell her he’ll probably turn up and not to worry.  This begins an amazing story which, as you probably know, is true

Five months later the police find a boy in Illinois and tell Mrs Collins that this is her son, she knows instantly that he is not but they refuse to believe her.  I don’t want to ruin the story on anyone so I’ll leave it there but to say that what happens next is both shocking and uplifting is an understatement.

I’m not usually a big fan of Eastwood’s directing style, I find it very slow and methodical, but in this case I must make an exception.  The film moves along nicely and we never loose sight of Christine’s journey or her turmoil.  Jolie is brilliant and deserves a lot of credit for her portrayal of an amazing woman.  She manages to depict the characters strength and courage but never looses sight of her vulnerability.

She is well assisted by fine actors such as John Malkovich who plays a Presbyterian minister who is taking on the corrupt LAPD in everyway he can.  Malkovich is brilliantly understated and allows Jolie to take the lead but his characters drive and passion are not lost.

There were also a few smaller parts that were played with real dept, Amy Ryan and Jason Butler Harner are two such examples.  Ryan playing a perfectly sane mental patient and Harner a very disturbed and violent killer.

The warbrobe and set design was flawless, not that I’m an expert in 1920’s style, but this really allowed you to be taken right into the story and really added to the piece as a whole.

This kind of film isn’t for everyone but if you enjoy being emotionally engulfed by a story then this picture is for you.

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