Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Changeling

Who: Liz
What: Changeling
Where: my living room
Why: I heard it was good

Angelina Jolie played mom Christine Collins, mom of Walter Collins. She is a supervisor at a telephone company in 1928 Pasadena CA. She has been called in to work and so she has to go, leaving Walter, a 9 year old, home alone for the day. When she gets home, Walter is gone, vanished. This movie is about her search for Walter. I thought it was a little slow going, but then, boy did it get better.
This is 1928 and I don’t know my history, but according to the movie, Los Angeles was filled with rogue cops and was really a corrupt place to live. Christine reports her child missing as soon as she gets home, but they tell her she has to wait 24 hours. So she does and then reports him missing. Time goes by and he is not found, then about 5 months later, the police claim to have found Walter. So she goes to the train station to pick him up and it’s not him, but the police insist it is and tell her to take him! Unbelievable! She knows it’s not her son and can get proof from the dentist, the neighbors, the teachers, and some others, but the police still don’t believe her and won’t continue to look for Walter. Case closed.
In the meantime, a decent cop is trying to find a young boy to deport back to Canada from a ranch and the boy ends up telling a really grisly story. There is also a minister who is trying to tell people about the corupt politicians and cops and he comes to help Christine.
What happens next is really scary to me and I have a hard time believing that this was the US and that people could be treated the way that Christine was treated. You'll have to watch the movie to see what happens!
I wouldn’t say this was a really enjoyable movie, but it kept me intrigued and wanting to root for Christine to get through this time in her life. I would say that this movie is not for everyone, its definitely not a “feel good” movie, but I liked it.

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