Grief-stricken mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) takes on the L.A.P.D. to her own detriment when it tries to pass off an obvious impostor as her missing child.
Los Angeles, 1928. Single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) returns from work to find her nine-year-old son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) gone. She calls the L.A.P.D. to initiate a search. Five months later, a boy is found in Illinois who fits the description, and he says he's her son. To fanfare and photos, the L.A.P.D. reunite mother and son, but she insists he's not her boy. The cops dismiss her as either a liar or hysterical. When she joins a minister in his public criticism of the Police, they in turn use government power to silence and intimidate her. Meanwhile, a cop goes to a dilapidated ranch to find a Canadian lad who's without legal status; the youth tells a grisly tale. There's redress for murder; is there redress for abuse of power?Written by
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Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski first learned of the story of Christine Collins from an unnamed source at Los Angeles City Hall. The source had stumbled across case files regarding the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders amongst other discarded documents scheduled for destruction. Straczynski took the files and became obsessed with the case, doing extensive research over the course of a year. He tried to make it into a television project, but never found a solid way to do that. Virtually every event depicted in this movie appears as cited in legal documents, with dialogue often taken verbatim from court transcripts. Straczynski wrote his first draft of the screenplay in only eleven days. See more »
Goofs
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. See more »
Heartbreaking yet captivating, Changeling's story was fascinating all the way through, even if the first half was a little slow. It certainly was a compelling story, shot beautifully, and written well. Angelina Jolie gave a mesmerizing performance as grief stricken Christine Collins, as well as the many young actors in the film. It's certainly worth the time.
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Heartbreaking yet captivating, Changeling's story was fascinating all the way through, even if the first half was a little slow. It certainly was a compelling story, shot beautifully, and written well. Angelina Jolie gave a mesmerizing performance as grief stricken Christine Collins, as well as the many young actors in the film. It's certainly worth the time.