Changeling a victim of its own shifting identity

By Erik Adams
Published: November 6th, 2008 | 6:00pm

It’s too bad Clint Eastwood already made a movie called Absolute Power — that would be an appropriate title for the movie Changeling becomes in its second act. Of course, that wouldn’t account for the 30 minutes the film spends as an asylum movie, or the part near the end where it’s a legal drama. So maybe Changeling is the film’s proper name after all.

Identity is not a major concern in Changeling, even if one of its main plot points is driven by a case of mistaken identity. In an attempt to solve the case of her missing son Walter, the Los Angeles Police Department presents Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) with a child claiming to be Walter. Of course, Collins sees right through this, and she’s got a doorframe height chart to back her up. No one at the LAPD will believe her, and after a particularly heated exchange with the juvenile investigation unit’s captain (Jeffrey Donovan, all clenched teeth and corrupted conviction), Collins is committed to the psychopathic ward of Los Angeles County Hospital. While there, Collins learns from a fellow patient (Amy Ryan) that the police make a practice of committing women they find “troublesome.”

In shifting its scope from an individual’s struggle to a mass struggle, Changeling sacrifices the emotional impact of Collins’ ordeal. The quick resolution of the complication is even more frustrating: Collins and her fellow wrongfully-committed patients are released thanks to the crusading Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), and the film trudges toward drawn-out legal pabulum. It’s satisfying to see Collins’ ordeal assist in the righting of a crooked system, but she’s shuffled to the side in the process, leaving Jolie to sit silently under a series of hats. At least she has a gift for registering her emotions with only her eyes.

If only Eastwood possessed a similar grasp on subtlety and control — his film speaks in broad terms and paints in even broader strokes. When he finally gives Jolie a moment to unleash the longing she’s pent up for the whole film, he frames her behind a prison door. It’s audience-insult-tastic! No film should have to be limited to one facet, but Changeling would have benefited immensely had its director trained his lens more tightly on the protagonist.