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Changeling
by Universal Studios
| List Price: |
$19.98 |
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$14.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$4.99 (24%) |
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DVD
Universal Studios
Publisher: Universal Studios
Clint Eastwood
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Actors: Angelina Jolie, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan, Gattlin Griffith, Michelle Gunn
A MOTHER'S PRAYER FOR HER KIDNAPPED SON TO RETURN HOME IS ANSWERED, THOUGH IT DOESN'T TAKE LONG FOR HER TO SUSPECT THE BOY WHO COMES BACK IS NOT HERS.
Clint Eastwood’s mastery as a director, established over the past decade and a half with Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, and others, continues with Changeling, a 2008 offering based on a shocking but all-too-true story about child abduction and police corruption in 1920s Los Angeles. Single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie, excellent in a role with somewhat limited parameters) finds her 9-year-old son, Walter, missing when she returns home from work one day. She files a report with the Los Angeles Police Department, an outfit that was wildly unpopular at the time (in his regular radio broadcast, a crusading pastor played by John Malkovich decries the force as "violent and corrupt," adding that "our protectors are our brutalizers"). When a child roughly matching Walter’s description turns up in Illinois five months later, the LAPD, intent on salvaging its tattered reputation, is only too eager to claim that he is Collins’ missing child. Little matters that he’s three inches shorter, is circumcised (Walter wasn’t), and fails to pass muster with Walter’s dentist, schoolteacher, and others; the cops, in particular the odious Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), insist that the mistake is Christine’s, not theirs. What follows is almost too nightmarish to believe--except that it actually happened. Exasperated by Collins’ continued claim that "Walter" is a fraud, they trot out a doctor to reinforce the bogus ID, declare her unfit as a mother, and finally have her committed to a local psychopathic ward. Through it all, Collins, bolstered by the pastor and thousands of outraged Angelenos, refuses to sign a document that would exonerate the police for their egregious error. As for Walter, it’s only when the LAPD’s seemingly only honest detective (Michael Kelly) takes matters into his own hands that the grisly mystery of the child’s fate begins to be solved. That would have been a good place for the film to conclude, too. Unfortunately, it goes on for more than another half hour, with innumerable false endings that add nothing to the story and could just as easily have been summarized with a few sentences before the final credits. That flaw aside (and it’s a major one), Changeling is a powerful film, with a realistic period feel, a wonderfully muted vibe and color palette, and an understated score by Eastwood himself. --Sam Graham
Stills from Changeling (Click for larger image)
| Customer Reviews: |
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| I'd give it 6 stars if I could |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Wow, am I glad I gave THIS fairly lengthy film a chance! Clocking in at just over 2 hours and 20 minutes.
You know the story by now- a mother comes home to find that her son is missing. She does EVERYTHING in her power to try and find him, except, since the story takes place in the late 1920's, a young single woman has to face another challenge- trying to convince the local police her son is actually missing.
The cops are so crooked they actually think the mother isn't really concerned over her son and believes she WANTS her son to remain missing so she can start another life with possibly someone else, lol. That's just one of many irrational theories a certain officer at this police department had in mind.
What makes Changeling so unbelievably good is the writing. It's solid, it's brilliant, it's moving, and to be completely honest, it might even be perfection.
*Every single scene* is the very definition of captivating. Angelina Jolie gives us a performance I wasn't sure the girl even had in her. She plays the concerned/emotional mother role perfectly the entire time.
When the police try convincing her that a completely unrelated child is her own son, the story intensifies. When the police pretend Angelina's character has mental problems and doesn't even realize her own son is standing right in front of her which prompts the police to send her to a mental hospital for a lengthy visit, the story intensifies even *more*.
Guess what? That's only HALF of the things that makes this film so good. The other half of the story focuses on her son, or rather, without giving anything away, something really really horrible that her son was a part of. Unbelievable.
I HIGHLY recommend Changeling.
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| Jolie's Best Role By a Mile |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This is Another masterpiece from Clint Eastwood. Jolie shines as Christine Collins who is the mother of a missing boy who disappears while she fulfills her obligations as a roller skate wearing telephone operator supervisor at a huge substation in LA. There are many twists to the story resulting from LAPD bugling yet another case in their long laundry list of mishandled crime investigations. Jolie plays the role of a hard working, intelligent, sensitive, unrelenting, hopeful mother who is tirelessly looking for her son. She becomes aided by John Malkovich who follows her case closely, using his bully pulpit to expose the LAPD for all of it's inconsistencies. Malkovich again shows why he's revered as the greatest character actor that ever donned a supporting role. All this starts out when a boy is retrieved from Illinois where he is used as a surrogate for her real son. Jolie is able to sell the fact that mothers are the ones that really know their sons. The LAPD takes the fact that Jolie's refusal to accept the boy as her son as being authentic to being delusional, shirking responsibility and "just plain nuts" Jolie then is "thrown" into the insane asylum where she undergoes many demeaning things. Jolie shows how smart and clever she can be in this role by assimilating herself into the asylum population while being conformant with the hospital doctors to prove she is not insane. If you watch carefully during the scenes where Christine Collins is restrained there is a day nurse that is played by Riki Lindhome who also plays the character of Mardell Fitzgerald in Eastwoods classic "Million Dollar Baby".
The movie takes a twist when Malkovich character exposes that the LAPD is having women incarcerated in a mental hospital when they are deemed public relations risks by the LAPD. Jeffery Donavan plays the stereotypical role of the Irish police captain who gets caught in the middle of a mess when it is found that citizens are wrongly put in the mental hospital and a second part of the mystery is uncovered when a runaway illegal alien from Canada reveals that he helped Gordon Northcutt in the mass murder of 20 boys at his ranch. This all comes to a head in a double trial where the mass murder and LAPD are both put on trial in a secretive proceeding put on a alternate docket to avoid press coverage. Jason Butler Harner's creepy portrayal of the ice cold mass murder Northcutt showed this deranged man, and his twisted attraction to Jolie's character which culminates to an unprecedented meeting between his character and Jolie's to finally confess to killing her son, However on her arrival he reneges on his deal to tell all, for fear of "going to hell". Jolie's interaction in this scene is electric when she repeatedly asks him "did you kill my son" over and over finally pressing herself to him nose to nose with gritted teeth. To me this was the epitome of great acting. I have this Tivoed on my system and highly recommend it be added to your DVD collection
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| Thank you Amazon readers |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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When I ask some of my friends what sources they use to figure out if a movie is worth watching, I get "Amazon reviews" as the most frequent answer - especially as of lately. And this tops Ebert, Maltin, and even AMG! That's how I stumbled upon the Changeling: I accidentally saw the DVD cover with 4 1/2 stars and a number next to it - the number pointed to over 150 reviews with the 4 1/2 star average. That sound very good for a new movie, considering the variety of backgrounds and preferences of the Amazon reviewers. And what a movie it is! Great cinematography, great storyline, and I never thought Angelina Jolie could be that good of an actress (yet after all, she is the daughter of actor Jon Voight). And what is also impressive is that despite of the sadness and distress of the subject matter, it manages to communicate hope.
It is also interesting to do some quick research on wikipedia on the subject - since it is a true story. Even the evil Gordon Northcott in the movie looked very much like the photograph posted on the site.
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| the truth is stranger than fiction |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I can't remember the last time I have seen a movie so well put together and detailed as "Changeling." It is a haunting story of tragedy, strength, hope, courage and faith. Angelina Jolie (who I was never a fan of until I saw this picture) was amazing. She emoted the type of rage and anger that any mother would feel if this happened to her. But instead of just a regular movie "Changeling" is so much more. It was like watching a period motion picture straight out of the nineteen-twenties. The movie is absolutely riveting and fascinating. But it's also incredibly disturbing and haunting. Like a good book, this movie will get into your mind and cause you to think. I had to watch the DVD in 3 different sittings because it was so shocking. The scenes in the hospital were especially poignant because it was mixed with both tragedy and triumph. My favorite part was when Carol (Amy Ryan) gave that bigot doctor a good punch right in the face. John Malkovich was absolutely fantastic as Reverend Gustav Briegleb, playing totally against type. Although the movie is rather long (more than 2 hours) it does not drag on at all. This is the type of movie that is so tragic you will likely cry, yet there are even parts that may make you shed a tear of joy as well. Christine Collins never gives up faith because as she explained that was all she had. And as I watched her never for a moment did I think that I was watching the most famous actress in the world. Instead she was just a mother seeking justice.
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| Lost |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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Changeling is the story, based upon actual events, of Christine Collins' quest to find her young son Walter, missing without a trace. It is also the story of appalling corruption in the government and police department of 1920's-'30's Los Angeles, which apparently has been a significant problem of long-standing. A third subplot involves a serial child killer who may or may not have had contact with Walter, and a forth presents a horrific view of the psychiatric ward in a local hospital.
Angela Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, and Michael Kelly all turn in admirable performances in spite of the need to cope with a too-lengthy script that verges upon melodrama in many spots. Scenery, lighting, sets, and costuming all convey an authentic period feel in a film that is grimly somber from start to finish. Some scenes (a hanging and some ax murders) are graphically disturbing, though brief, and Eastwood's score is subtle and unobtrusive; as a director, he has generally relied on the story line to stimulate emotion, rather than music to create it artificially.
While it does bog down in places, this is a movie worth viewing, for its ability to demonstrate how easily a corrupt system can control and damage the lives of countless individuals who place their trust in it.
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