Eastwood's 'Changeling' a superbly crafted mystery with surprises

In Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," we have a superbly crafted period drama that begins as a simple missing child case before it effortlessly shifts gears into something much darker, denser and utterly gripping.

I had the luxury of seeing "Changeling" in a blissful state of not knowing much about the story, or about the actual events the movie is based on. I will strive to preserve this unawareness, because a great deal of the movie's power derives from its unexpected lurches into completely different film genres, with each part magnificently pole-vaulting over the clichés associated with them.

"Changeling" also features a top-to-bottom dream cast of both known and lesser-known actors, starting with Angelina Jolie delivering the purest, most simplified and evocative dramatic performance of her career so far.

She plays Christine Collins, a single mother striving to eke out a living as a supervisor of telephone operators in a color-deadened 1928 Los Angeles. Her husband left her and their little son Walter (Gattlin Griffith), forcing Christine to find employment (on roller skates!) as a telephone company troubleshooter.

One night she stays late to cover for an employee. When she arrives to her darkened home, Walter has vanished. She calls the cops, who never take action on missing kid cases until 24 hours have passed. Most children return.

Hours pass. Then days. Then months.

Finally, a break. Cops discover her boy over in DeKalb, Ill., abandoned by a drifter at a cafe. With great media fanfare, the L.A. cops, represented by Capt. J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), reunite mother and child at the train station. This is when things go from bad to horribly, unpredictably worse.

"This is not my son!" Christine says. Capt. Jones insists he is, and he convinces a shaken Christine to take the lad home as Walter. She wants to believe the boy could be her son, but he's 3 inches shorter than Walter. Walter's school teacher says bluntly, "If that kid's Walter, I'll eat my yardstick."

Yet, the L.A. cops, who cannot afford to be embarrassed at a time when they are being accused of systemic corruption and brutalization, stick by their story: Walter is Walter and his mother must be crazy not to know him.

This is where "Changeling" ­­evolves from a simple mystery into a conspiratorial epic filled with so much L.A. institutionalized rot that it begs comparisons to such films as "L.A. Confidential" and even the classic "Chinatown."

Later sequences conjure up asylum dramas such as "The Snake Pit" (also Jolie's own "Girl, Interrupted"). Even later, "Changeling" evokes the gritty realism of "In Cold Blood," with a disturbingly unsettling portrait of a serial killer by Jason Butler Harner, who enters the story as a seemingly unimportant character.

"Changeling" does great things for the image of Presbyterian ministers. Chicago's own John Malkovich plays one of them, Rev. Gustav Briegleb, who in 1928 used his pulpit and popular radio show to monitor and condemn L.A. police for their violent, corrupt behavior. It is he who finally unveils a conspiracy so bold and brazen, that public protectors would even conceive of it seems inconceivable.

Colm Feore brings as much depth as he can to the limited portrait of politically embattled L.A. Police Chief James Davis. Michael Kelly is a stand out as the only conscientious cop in town who stumbles into an unimaginable nightmare.

At 78, Eastwood, operating from J. Michael Straczynski's smart and tight screenplay, directs "Changeling" with an assured confidence that needs no gimmicks or excesses ­­- just a straightforward, lean piece of filmmaking from a genuine Hollywood lion in winter.

"Changeling"

Rating: Four stars

Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Colm Feore, Gattlin Griffith

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated R for violence, language. 141 minutes

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=1&type=video&item=213">Dann Gire's video review of 'Changeling' </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>