In the interest of full disclosure I must reveal that I’ve been a fan of J. Michael Straczynski for around two decades now. The man knows story and characters better than most, so I went into this film trusting that the script would be solid. What I was not prepared for was everything else. A week script can doom a film before even a single scene is shot, no matter the amount of award-winning actors and directors you throw at it. Likewise, a strong script can save a film from ham-fisted acting and poor direction. Every once in a while you get a film that has a great script and top-notch director so that even the weakest parts are unable to drag the whole production down to a level that is at worst, really good. Then, even more rarely, you get a film like Changeling. I suppose I shouldn’t really call it a perfect film, but I’ll be damned if I can find any flaws.
The story itself is very compelling and frightening at the same time. For a parent, the thought that you might lose your child brings on a level of fear that cannot be matched by the likes of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees or Jigsaw. To see someone go through that unthinkable tragedy in a movie is very disturbing, especially knowing that this is a true story. You’ll notice that there is no “based on” qualifier preceding “a true story” in the opening credits and that’s because Straczynski made his script as accurate as possible. Sure, there are a couple of characters that are composites of more than one of the people involved in the events, but 95% is what actually happened with the remaining 5% based around eyewitness accounts. That is not to say that this is a dry, documentary-style reenactment. The story starts as a basic child-gone-missing drama and builds in complexity and tension as more is revealed and seemingly unrelated events reveal a deeper, darker horror that effects an entire community. There are times where you will feel very uncomfortable, especially when certain shocking events are unveiled. The point is that this was a very real and horrific event, so you should feel uncomfortable or disconcerted by what happens. Besides, the violence depicted and the reaction of the victims is paralleled nicely near the end when the perpetrator is brought to final justice. There is a lot going on in this film and it leaves you a lot to think about, but the pacing is perfect and everything fits snugly in the nearly two and a half hour running time without feeling overly drawn out.
There are no less than four breakout performances in this film and that’s not counting the two main leads. Jason Butler Harner and Michael Kelly especially deserve praise as they play almost opposite sides of a coin. Harner’s Gordon Northcott is a horrible, deceitful, amoral monster who’s mostly amused when his crimes are recounted. Conversely, Kelly’s Lester Ybarra is one of the few upstanding, decent and honorable cops and is horrified when Northcott’s unlikely accomplice tells the grisly tale of their actions. John Malkovich plays Gustav Briegleb, who I initially thought was going to be a cartoonish, bible-thumping preacher. Instead, Briegleb, while fomenting dissension towards the police, is both the film’s moral compass and voice of reason and compassion. Jeffrey Donovan nearly steals the spotlight as Police Captain J.J. Jones, who unswervingly toes the line that the police are perfect and are never wrong. The verbal bear traps he lures other characters into and the mix of congeniality and menace that comes across in his facial expressions are astounding.
Having said all that, Angelina Jolie absolutely owns this film. The vulnerability that she shows with abandon and the quiet, yet steel-strong resolve that remains constant in her portrayal of Christine Collins is nothing short of amazing. I’m a fan of many of her film roles, but I would say that this is easily the highlight of her career to date. Mention should also be made of the four young boys that each have prominent scenes in the film. While W. C. Fields may have said “never work with children or animals”, the first half of that statement is deftly refuted by the exceptional performances that Eastwood gets from these young actors.
And that leads us to Clint Eastwood’s direction. I haven’t enjoyed all the films he’s chosen to direct, but he certainly knows how to make a great film. He’s very smart in the framing of a scene and it’s uncanny how he can such honest and true performances from the actors he casts. He’s won two Oscars and three Golden Globes as a director and his work on Changeling is deserving of another of each of those. Eastwood is a genius at mixing action with color and film score (also composed by him) into just the right blend to convey the truth of a scene. I think it’s a true credit that he makes his actors comfortable enough to metaphorically bare all in their performances and he deftly captures all the subtle nuances that result.
If this film doesn’t get at least a half a dozen Oscar nominations then there truly is no justice in this world. Changeling is one of the strongest films this year, if not the best. It’s easily in my top five and I think it will make your list as well. I recommend you see Changeling at the first available opportunity.
