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Changeling
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Changeling (2008) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 64 | slideshow) Videos (see all 12)
Changeling (2008) -- Clint Eastwood directs Angelina Jolie in The Changeling, a drama in which 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.
Changeling (2008) -- Clip: Rev Briegleb and a lawyer visit with Christine
Changeling (2008) -- Interview: Clint Eastwood "On the film being based on a true story"
Changeling (2008) -- 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.
Changeling (2008) -- Clip: Rev. Briegleb warns Christine about the LAPD coming after her

Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 51% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Clint Eastwood
Writer (WGA):
J. Michael Straczynski (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Changeling on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
31 October 2008 (USA) more
Tagline:
To find her son, she did what no one else dared.
Plot:
A grief-stricken mother takes on the LAPD to her own detriment when it stubbornly tries to pass off an obvious impostor as her missing child, while also refusing to give up hope that she will find him one day. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 30 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(309 articles)
Beckham 'won't pose with Jolie for Armani'
 (From digitalspy. 14 July 2009, 5:30 AM, PDT)

CC2009: Saturday and Sunday Highlights
 (From doorQ.com. 13 July 2009, 8:17 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
An interesting story told well. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, and language.
Runtime:
141 min
Country:
USA
Language:
Portuguese | English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When the 15-year-old accomplice stops digging and rolls on the floor, his overalls are hanging. When the officer tries to pull him up, his overalls are normal. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Christine Collins: Walter, honey. Time to wake up.
Walter Collins: Just ten more minutes...
Christine Collins: Sorry, sport. You can sleep in tomorrow, that's what Saturdays are for.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: John Malkovich/T.I. (#34.10)" (2008) more

FAQ

What is a "changeling"?
What does the text say at the end before the end credits?
Is "Changeling" a remake of "The Changeling"?
more
115 out of 159 people found the following comment useful:-
An interesting story told well., 28 October 2008
Author: John DeSando (jdesando@columbus.rr.com) from Columbus, Ohio

Christine Collins: "The boy they brought back is not my son."

ClintEastwood s knows a good story, and he knows how to tell it on film. Not everything he does is as powerful as his depiction of a dynamic female boxer in Million Dollar Baby, for which Hilary Swank won a best actress Oscar among four for the film. In Changeling he presents another strong woman, Christine Collins, played by the notable Angelina Jolie. Because she is directed to weep at almost every turn and regularly underplay her grit, Jolie won't win accolades, nor will Eastwood rack up the nominations as he frequently does in Oscar season. But his adaptation of the historic Wineville Chicken Murders chills with his perceptions about the capriciousness of crime and the determination of those who choose to fight it.

In a Prohibition-era 1928, Collins gets word that the Los Angeles Police Department is returning her kidnapped eight-year old son. When she sees him at the station, a finely directed sequence showing the forces of motherhood and politics clash, she knows it is not her child. LAPD, needing the good publicity, forces her to take the boy overnight with the logic that she is merely in shock. The rest of this overly long thriller carefully traces the discoveries leading to resolutions and disappointments. Along the way, police corruption is exposed, mental institution incarceration of women is laid bare, and grisly serial murdering is slowly detailed.

Yet in this discursive narrative, Eastwood indulges himself beyond Jolie's annoying crying by gratuitously laboring over the details of an execution. The stark San Quentin setting is ghastly and the villain worthy except for the film's obvious criticism of false mental institution lockup, ironic here because this murderer is clearly deranged enough to be determined unfit for trial.

As in every Eastwood production, the values are first-rate, in this case period costuming and vehicles (those Model T's and trolley cars are beautiful). As in Mystic River, Eastwood knows how to splice family and community together in the struggle against organized crime, from street violence to public service malpractice. The activist preacher Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich) helps bring the worlds together in his radio broadcasts, Malkovich for once playing good well. Eastwood continues to be the director of choice for depicting crimes and heartaches that strike the common citizen at will.

We all should be as productive in our later years. May he extend well beyond his golf-playing days and into our future.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Changeling (2008)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
So who else thought this film was TERRIBLE!!? ShezCrafti
NO EXCUSE matt_cole1
Question about Ybarra/Northcutt conversation D-Wright5
Corporal punishment. Piener
Walt Kowalski lechacal027
Glaring Omission of the 'True Story'- Sarah Louise Northcott stanzyck
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