Changeling (film)

This article is about the 2008 film directed by Clint Eastwood. For the 1980 film, see The Changeling (film).

Changeling
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Clint Eastwood
Written by	J. Michael Straczynski
Produced by	Clint Eastwood Brian Grazer Ron Howard Robert Lorenz
Starring	Angelina Jolie Gattlin Griffith Jeffrey Donovan John Malkovich Jason Butler Harner Amy Ryan Michael Kelly Geoff Pierson Colm Feore
Cinematography	Tom Stern
Edited by	Joel Cox Gary D. Roach
Music by	Clint Eastwood
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 20, 2008 (Cannes) October 24, 2008 (limited) October 31, 2008 (wide) November 28, 2008 (UK, RoI)
Running time	141 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Changeling is a 2008 American period thriller directed by Clint Eastwood. The film is set in late 1920s Los Angeles and is based on the true story of a woman who recognizes that the boy returned to her after a kidnapping is not her son. After confronting the city authorities, she is vilified as an unfit mother and branded delusional. The film was written by J. Michael Straczynski, who spent a year researching the case through archived city records. It was produced by Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso Productions for Universal Pictures. Ron Howard was originally slated to direct, but scheduling difficulties and Universal's desire to fast track the project led to his replacement by Eastwood.

Angelina Jolie appears in the lead role with support from Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Geoff Pierson, and Colm Feore. The film explores themes such as feminine disempowerment, corruption in political hierarchies, and the impact that violent crime has on communities. Principal photography began on October 15, 2007 and was completed in November 2007. Filming took place at locations in and around Los Angeles. Changeling premiered in competition at the 61st Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2008, where it received largely positive reviews. The film had its North American premiere on October 4, 2008 as the centerpiece of the 46th New York Film Festival. It is scheduled for general release in North America on October 31, 2008 after a limited release that began on October 24, 2008. It will be released in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on November 28, 2008.

Premise

The film is set in late 1920s Los Angeles and is based on a real-life incident related to the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, an infamous kidnapping and murder case that spanned 1928–1930 and received nationwide attention in the United States. When single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) returns home from her job as a telephone operator, she finds that her nine-year-old son, Walter, is missing. An exhaustive search for the boy proves unproductive, but five months later a child claiming to be Walter is returned to her by police. Despite knowing that the boy is not Walter, overcome by conflicting emotions in the crowd of police and reporters, Collins is persuaded to take the boy home. When Collins urges the authorities to continue looking for her son, she is vilified as an unfit mother and branded delusional. With the help of Reverend Gustav Briegleb (Malkovich), Collins confronts the city authorities and corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department to find out the truth.

Production

Several years prior to writing Changeling's script, television screenwriter and former journalist J. Michael Straczynski was contacted by a former source at Los Angeles City Hall. The source told him that officials were planning to burn numerous archive documents, and that among them was "something [Straczynski] should see". This proved to be a transcript of a City Council welfare hearing in Christine Collins' case. Straczynski became fascinated with the story. After twenty years working in television, writing and producing shows such as Babylon 5 and Jeremiah, Straczynski felt he needed a break from the medium. Following Jeremiah's cancelation in 2003, he spent a year researching the Collins case through archived criminal, county courthouse, city hall and city morgue records. He collected around 6000 pages of documentation, before obtaining enough information to be able to "figure out how to tell it". He wrote the first draft of the script within twelve days. Straczynski's agent passed the script to producer Jim Whitaker. He forwarded it to Ron Howard, who optioned it immediately.

In June 2006 Universal Studios and Howard's Imagine Entertainment bought the script with the intention for Howard to direct. The film was on a shortlist of projects for Howard after coming off the commercial success of The Da Vinci Code. Several female stars were interested in the project, with Reese Witherspoon and Hilary Swank campaigning for the part, before Jolie "jumped to the front of the line". In March 2007, the production was fast tracked by Universal. When Howard instead opted to direct Frost/Nixon, following that with Angels and Demons, it became clear that he could not direct Changeling until 2009. After Howard stepped down, it began to look as if the film would not be made, despite the script's being admired in the industry (a situation Straczynski said he had "gotten very Zen" about). Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer instead began looking for other directors to helm the project. Straczynski said that five A-list directors were interested, before Clint Eastwood agreed to direct immediately after reading the script.

The film marked a repeat visit to territory visited by Eastwood in earlier films: the Great Depression. Explaining his attraction to the project, Eastwood said his memories of growing up during that time meant that whenever a history concerning the Depression era landed in his hands, he "redoubled his attention" upon it.

Casting

Angelina Jolie was suggested to Eastwood for the lead by producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Eastwood cast her as he felt her face was one that fit "both contemporarily and in a period".

Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins. Jolie was suggested to Eastwood for the role by Howard and Grazer. As he felt her face fit the period setting, Eastwood agreed. Jolie was initially reluctant to join the production, as the film's subject was one that made her uncomfortable due to her having children herself. The screenplay's portrayal of Collins as having the ability to bounce back from adversity and the strength to fight against the odds swayed Jolie, and she joined the production in March 2007. Jolie noted that performing the role was very emotional, and she had to learn to roller skate while wearing high heels for scenes at the telephone exchange, a documented practice of the period. Gattlin Griffith plays her son, with Devon Conti as his doppelganger, Arthur Hutchens—a 12-year-old who wants to escape his previous life.

Jeffrey Donovan plays J.J. Jones. Jones is the Los Angeles Police Department captain leading the juvenile investigation unit, and Collins' antagonist. Upon returning the boy claiming to be Collins' son to her, he bullies Collins into accepting the boy. Lines from the real Jones' public statements were used in a scene where Jones has Collins committed to a mental institute. Donovan expressed his fascination and disbelief at the amount of power Jones wielded in the city, and that he was able to have Collins committed based solely upon his word.

John Malkovich plays Gustav Briegleb. Malkovich joined the production in October 2007. Briegleb is a Presbyterian reverend, and pastor of the St. Paul’s and Westlake Presbyterian churches in Los Angeles. The character is a community activist who uses his radio show to deliver sermons that challenge the public not to turn a blind eye to the corruption of police and city government officials. When Collins is committed to a mental institute, Briegleb uses his knowledge of the city's political structure to publicize Walter's disappearance on his radio show and rally the public behind Collins' cause. Malkovich said that the character helps Collins to find the strength of her own voice in her battle for the truth. Eastwood deliberately cast Malkovich against type as he felt the casting would bring "a different shading" to the character.

Jason Butler Harner plays Gordon Northcott. Northcott is a mechanic accused of murder. Harner described his character as "a horrible, horrible, wonderful person". He said Northcott plays a cat-and-mouse game with Collins, and that he believes he shares a connection with her due to their both being in the headlines: "In his eyes, they’re kindred spirits". Harner landed the role after a single taped audition. Casting director Ellen Chenoweth explained that Eastwood chose Harner over more well-known actors who desired the part due seeing "more depth and variety" in the performer, and because he was able to project "a slight craziness" without evoking Charles Manson. During casting, Eastwood was also surprised by the resemblance between Northcott and Harner, saying they looked "very much" alike when Harner was made-up.

Amy Ryan plays Carol Dexter. Dexter is a prostitute wrongfully imprisoned by police in the same mental institute as Collins. She befriends Collins and teaches her how to survive the treatment to which Dexter has already been subjected. Ryan said that while her character doesn't come to blows with Jolie's, there were "some good fight scenes" between them. Like Jolie and Harner, Ryan didn't audition for her role in person; instead she sent in a tape to Eastwood.

Michael Kelly plays Lester Ybarra. Ybarra is a police detective and the only officer on the case who believes Collins. He is a composite of several people from the historical record.

Geoff Pierson plays Sammy Hahn. Hahn is a defense attorney, known for taking high-profile cases. He takes up Collins' case and in doing so plants the seeds of the eventual overturning of imprisonments under "Code 12" (a catch-all term that covered anyone who "dissented, protested, caused trouble or objected" to police methods).

Colm Feore plays James E. Davis. Davis is the Los Angeles chief of police, who is keen for Collins to disappear due to the bad publicity her campaign brings upon the department and the despotic political infrastructure led by Mayor George E. Cryer (Reed Birney). The life and backstory of Davis was changed from that of his historical counterpart.

Denis O'Hare plays Jonathan Steel. Another composite character, Steel is a doctor who rules the mental institute and has a brutal approach to psychiatric care.

Filming

The Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles doubled as the 1920s Los Angeles City Council chambers.

Changeling was made by Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso Productions for Universal Studios. It was produced by Imagine's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, with Malpaso's Robert Lorenz and Eastwood. The film was edited by Gary D. Roach and Joel Cox, and the score is by Eastwood. Tim Moore and Jim Whitaker were executive producers. Production design was supervised by James Murakami and the visual effects were supervised by Michael Owens. Cinematography is by Tom Stern. In what was described as a "technical innovation", Eastwood and Stern used hand-held wireless video screens to watch the live feed of a particular shot.

Principal photography began on October 15, 2007, and took 35 days. Location scouting prior to filming revealed that many of the older buildings in Los Angeles had been torn down, including the entire neighborhood where the real Collins lived. Instead, suburban areas in the nearby cities of San Dimas, San Bernardino and Pasadena doubled for 1920s Los Angeles. The visual effects team supplemented these exterior shots with skylines and detailed backdrops. A neighborhood in the Old Town district of San Dimas stood in for the block of homes that housed the real Collins, as well as surrounding areas, and was used for both interior and exterior shots. Murakami said that the area was chosen because very little had changed since the 1920s. A subdued color palette was used in decorating the location to evoke feelings of comfort. For some exterior shots, the production renovated run-down properties in neighborhoods of Los Angeles that still had surviving 1920s architecture, and some scenes were filmed on the Universal Studios backlot, on the New York street and at an alley next to the entrance to the King Kong attraction. New York street was later destroyed by a fire. The Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California was also used, as was the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, which was converted into a replica of the 1920s Los Angeles City Council chambers.

Eastwood had clear childhood memories of living in Los Angeles in the 1930s and attempted to recreate several details in the film: the town hall, at the time one of the tallest buildings in the city; the city center, which was one of the busiest in the world; and the "perfectly functioning" Pacific Electric Railway, the distinctive red streetcars of which feature closely in two scenes. The production used a fully functioning replica streetcar for these shots, with visual effects employed for streetcars in the background. Los Angeles City Hall, on which construction was completed in 1928, was retouched by the effects team to remove the weathering and newer surrounding architecture. A small farm on the outskirts of Lancaster was used as the location for the Wineville chicken ranch. The entire farm was recreated, with the production team using archive news photographs and visits to the original farm where the killings took place to get a feel for the topography and layout.

"One day we were shooting a scene where [Collins and Briegleb] talk about her case... We started shooting at 9:30 a.m. and it was seven or eight pages, which is usually an 18-hour day. Around 2:30, [Eastwood] goes, 'That's lunch and that's a wrap.'... I've made close to 100 films now and that's certainly a phrase I've never heard in my entire life."

—John Malkovich discusses Eastwood's famously economical directorial style, which extended to Changeling's set.

Eastwood is known for his "economical" film shoots, and his regular camera operator (Steve Campanelli) indicated that the rapid pace at which Eastwood shoots his films—and intimate and near-wordless direction—was also a feature of Changeling's shoot. Eastwood limited the number of rehearsals and takes to garner more "authentic" performances from the cast. Jolie said, "You've got to get your stuff together and get ready because he doesn't linger... He expects people to come prepared and get on with their work." Campanelli sometimes had to tell Jolie what Eastwood wanted in a scene, as Eastwood talked too softly. In order to lend verisimilitude to certain scenes, Eastwood sometimes asked Jolie to play a scene quietly, as if just for him. At the same time he would ask his cameraman to start filming discreetly, without Jolie's seeing it. Some of these takes made it into the completed film. Malkovich noted Eastwood's direction as "redefining economical", saying that Eastwood was quiet and didn't use the usual phrases "action" and "cut" during filming. "Some [directors]—like Clint Eastwood or Woody Allen—don’t really like to be tortured by a million questions. They hire you, and they figure you know what to do, and you should do it... And that’s fine by me." Ryan also noted the calmness of the set, observing that her experiences working with director Sidney Lumet on 100 Centre Street and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead were useful due to his sharing Eastwood's preference for filming a small number of takes. Ryan cited the filming of a fight scene during which Eastwood showed her "how to throw a movie punch" as her favorite moment of the production.

Clothing matching the 1920s style had to be found for up to 1000 people, a task made difficult for costume designer Deborah Hopper by the fabrics used in the period, which were not hard-wearing. Sharp wool suits were found for the police officers. The style for women of all classes was to dress to create a demure silhouette, using dropped waist dresses, cloche hats that complemented the bob cut hairstyles of the day, fur-trimmed coats and knitted gloves. Archive media of Collins was used to replicate her look for Jolie. She indicated that the costumes Collins wore formed an integral part of her approach to the character, saying that the style made her "feel a little softer and just so delicate, hidden behind it all".

Writing

"The story is just so bizarre that you need something to remind you that I'm not making this stuff up. So it seemed important to me to put in those clippings because you reach the part of the story where you go, 'Come on he's got to have gone off the rails with this.' Turn the page and there is indeed an article confirming it, which is why, in terms of writing the script, I hued [sic] very close to the facts. The story is already extraordinary enough."

—Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski placed newspaper clippings into physical copies of the script in order to remind people it was a true story.

Straczynski chose deliberately not to focus on the atrocities in the story, preferring to tell it from Collins' perspective. He stuck close to the facts of the case while writing the script, with 95 percent of the content coming directly from articles, testimony, transcripts and correspondence from the period. Straczynski said there were only two moments at which he had to "figure out what happened", due to the lack of information in the public records. He cited as an example a scene set in a psychiatric hospital, for which there was only limited after-the-fact testimony. Straczynski had to extrapolate events based upon standard practice in such institutions at the time. To ensure the veracity of the story, Straczynski incorporated quotes from the historical record and direct testimony directly into the script. He also included photocopies of news clippings every 15–20 pages in the script in order to remind those reading it that the story was a true one. So the film credits could present the film as "a true story" rather than as "based on" one, Straczynski had to go through the script with Universal's legal department, providing attribution for every scene. The shooting script was not changed from Straczynski's first draft. Straczynski said "Clint's funny—if he likes it, he'll do it, that's the end of the discussion. When I met with him to ask, 'Do you want any changes, do you want any things cut, added to, subtracted from, whatever,' he said, 'No. The draft is fine. Let's shoot the draft.'"

Straczynski said his attraction to the project was the tenacity Collins showed in her fight to uncover the truth, and the legacy the case left throughout California's legal system: "My intention was very simple: to honor what Christine Collins did." The title is derived from West European folklore and refers to a creature, a "changeling", left by fairies in place of a human child. Due to the word's association with the supernatural, Straczynski only ever intended it as a temporary title, believing he would be able to change it later on.

Release

Changeling premiered in competition at the 61st Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2008. The film was Eastwood's fifth to enter competition at the festival. Its appearance at Cannes was not part of the original release plan. Universal said it had been looking forward to the festival without the worry associated with screening a film there, until Eastwood made arrangements himself for Changeling's appearance. He had been pleased with the critical and commercial success that followed Mystic River's appearance at the festival in 2003 and wanted to generate the same "positive buzz" for Changeling. The film was still in post-production one week before the start of the festival. It also appeared at the 34th Deauville American Film Festival, held September 5–14, 2008, and had its North American premiere on October 4, 2008 as the centerpiece of the 46th New York Film Festival, screening at the Ziegfeld Theatre.

The filmmakers and Universal considered opening Changeling wide in its first weekend to capitalize on Jolie's perceived influence at the box office, but the release plan was ultimately modeled after that of other Eastwood-directed films, Mystic River in particular. While the usual strategy for a film from a notable director is to open their film in every major city across the United States to ensure a large opening gross, in what the industry calls a "platform release", Eastwood's films generally open in a small number of theaters before opening wide a week later. Changeling was released in 15 theaters in nine markets in the United States on October 24, 2008, from which it made $502,000, $33,441 per theater, in its opening two days. The marketing strategy involved trailers that pushed both Eastwood's involvement and the more commercial mystery thriller elements of the story. The limited release was preferred in an attempt to capitalize on good word-of-mouth support from "serious movie fans" rather than those in the 18 to 25 year old demographic profile. It is scheduled for general release across North America on October 31, 2008, playing at between 1800 and 1900 theaters, and will be released in the United Kingdom and the Rebublic of Ireland on November 28, 2008.

Changeling is the first film made by Eastwood for a studio other than Warner Bros. since Absolute Power in 1997, and is his first directed for Universal since The Eiger Sanction in 1975. Eastwood's successful track record at the Academy Awards generated speculation that Changeling will find success at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony in 2009, which will honor outstanding achievements in film for 2008.

Reception

The film's screening at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival was met with largely positive reviews, prompting speculation it could be awarded the Palme d'Or. The award eventually went to Entre les murs ("The Class"), though Straczynski claimed that Changeling's loss by two votes was due to those judges' not believing the filmmakers' claims that the story was a true one. The film's theatrical release was met with a generally favorable response. As of October 26, 2008, 51% of critics listed by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes had given the film a positive review, based on a sample of 82. It reported a consensus that while Changeling is well-acted and beautifully shot, the compelling story was often told in too conventional a manner. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reported an average score of 65, based on 28 reviews.

"Jolie puts on a powerful emotional display as a tenacious woman who gathers strength from the forces that oppose her. She reminds us that there is nothing so fierce as a mother protecting her cub."

—Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter on Jolie's performance.

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised Jolie's acting as "top-notch". He said she was more affecting than in A Mighty Heart (2007) due to her relying less on artifice. McCarthy also noted a surfeit of good supporting performances, singling out Michael Kelly in particular. Oliver Séguret of Libération said the cast was the best aspect of the film. He had praise for the "magnetic" performances of the supporting actors and called Jolie "intense but discreet... beautiful but never dazzling". Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter also praised Jolie, saying she shunned her "movie star" persona to appear both vulnerable and resolute at the same time. Honeycutt noted that with the exception of Amy Ryan's character, the supporting characters had few shades of gray. David Ansen writing in Newsweek agreed that they could be easily sorted as "black or white", but that "some stories really are about the good guys and the bad". He said that when the distractions of Jolie's celebrity and attractiveness were put aside, she carried the role with "admirable restraint" and "slow burning ferocity". David Denby of The New Yorker said that while Jolie's acting was "skilled and selfless", the performance and character were uninteresting. He said Collins was one-dimensional, lacking desires or temperament. He cited similar problems with Malkovich's "uncomplicated" and "impersonal" Briegleb, concluding, "The two of them make a very proper and dull pair of collaborators."

McCarthy expressed admiration for the "outstanding" script, which he said was ambitious and deceptively simple. He praised Eastwood's respecting the script through not playing up to the melodramatic aspects of the story, and not telegraphing its eventual scope at the start. Honeycutt wrote that due to Changeling's close adherence to the true-life facts of the case, the drama sagged at one point, but that the film didn't feel as long as its 141 minutes, as the filmmakers were "good at cutting to the chase". Ansen said Straczynski's dialogue tended to the obvious, but that while it lacked some of the moral nuance of Eastwood's other films, the "copiously researched" screenplay as a whole was "a model of sturdy architecture", each layer of which built audience disgust into a "fine fury". He said, "when the tale is this gripping, why resist the moral outrage?"

"The trouble with period movies made by talented craftsmen who are serious about authenticity and consistency is that no one wants to mess up the shots."

—David Denby, writing in The New Yorker.

Séguret said that while Eastwood proved he was capable behind the camera, and had presented a solid recreation of the era, he never felt the director was inspired by the challenge the reconstruction posed. Séguret noted that Eastwood kept the embers of the story alight, but that it seldom burst into flames. He said the effect was like placing the audience in the position of a passenger in a limousine with all the options and air conditioning on: comfortable but a little boring. Denby and Ansen commented that Eastwood left the worst atrocities to audiences' imaginations. Ansen said this was because Eastwood was less interested in the lurid aspects of the case, and McCarthy praised the more thoughtful than sensationalist treatment. Denby cited problems with the austere approach, saying it left the film "both impressive and monotonous". He said Eastwood was presented with the problem of not wanting to exploit the "gruesome" material because this would contrast poorly with the delicate emotions of a woman's longing for her missing son. He said that Eastwood and Straczynski should have explored more deeply the perverse aspects of the case. Instead, he said, the story played out by methodically settling the emotional and dramatic issues, "reverently chronicling Christine’s apotheosis", before "[ambling] on for another forty minutes". Ansen said the film's classical approach lifted the story to another level, and that it only embraced horror film conventions while on its way to transcending them. McCarthy said Changeling was one of Eastwood's most vividly realised films, citing Stern's cinematography, the set and costume design, and CGI landscapes that merged seamlessly with the location shots.

Damon Wise of Empire called Changeling "flawless", and McCarthy said it was "Emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed". He maintained that Changeling was a more complex and wide-ranging work than Mystic River, Eastwood's 2003 entry at Cannes, and stated that the characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an "almost breathtaking deliberation, as dramatic force and artistic substance steadily mount". He said that as "a sorrowful critique of the city's political culture", Changeling sat in the company of films such as Chinatown and L.A. Confidential. Honeycutt said that the film added a "forgotten chapter to the L.A. noir" of those films, and that Eastwood's "melodic" score contributed to an evocation of a city and a period "undergoing galvanic changes". Honeycutt said that "[the] small-town feel to the street and sets... captures a society resistant to seeing what is really going on". Séguret said that while Changeling had no obvious defects, it was "perplexing" that other critics had such effusive praise for the film, and Denby said that it was beautifully made, but that it shared the chief fault of other "righteously indignant" films in its congratulating the audience for feeling contempt for the "long-discredited" attitudes depicted. Ansen concluded that the story was told in such a sure manner that "only a very hardened cynic" would be left unmoved by the "haunting, sorrowful saga."

Analysis

Changeling begins as an ordinary story of an abduction, but the film largely stays outside the framework of the family drama in order to concentrate on a portrait of a woman whose desire for independence is seen as a threat to a male-dominated society. The Los Angeles of the 1920s is depicted as a city that behaves towards women as if they are hysterical, and unreliable when they question the judgment of men. As a film dealing with female courage, Changeling has been cited as "about as feminist as Hollywood can get". The perception that the film has as a result been subject to sexist disdain draws comparison with that levelled at the women who vied for high political office in the year of the film's release, as well as that directed at the women of Changeling's 1920s setting, reflecting a view that attitudes towards independent, career-minded women have failed to significantly change in the intervening years: Collins defies male-generated cultural expectations that women are not suited for professional careers and is punished for it. The portrait of a vulnerable woman whose mental state is manipulated by the authorities was likened to the treatment of Ingrid Bergman's character in the 1944 film Gaslight, a woman who also wondered if she might be going insane, with Eastwood citing photographs in which Collins is seen smiling with the child she knows is not hers. Like a number of other women of the period who were deemed disruptive, Collins is forced into the secret custody of a mental institution. The film shows that psychiatry became a tool in the gender politics of the era, only a few years after women's suffrage in the United States was guaranteed by the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. As women ceased to be "second class citizens", further asserting their independence, mental institutions became key tools used by the male establishment to bring about female disempowerment; in common with other unmanageable women, Collins is subjected to medical treatment designed to break her spirit and compel obedience. The testimony of the psychiatrist who treated Collins is directly quoted from in the film. Eastwood said that the testimony said a great deal about how a woman was prejudged as hysterical and lacking in reliable judgment, and that the behavior of the police also reflected how a woman was seen at the time. He quoted the words of the officer who made the decision to send Collins to a mental institute: "Something is wrong with you. You're an independent woman." Eastwood said, "The period could not accept [it]".

In Changeling, romantic ideas of 1920s Los Angeles being a more innocent period are discarded in favour of portraying the city as being ruled by a despotic political infrastructure, steeped in sadistic, systematic corruption throughout the city government, police force and medical establishment. Eastwood said he believed there had never been a "golden age" in the city, and noted a correlation between the corruption of 1920s Los Angeles and the corruption of 2008. The pressure from the Los Angeles Police Department hierarchy was a potential motivator for officers to quickly solve Walter Collins' disappearance, and their ignoring the fact that they had returned the wrong child. Chief of police James E. Davis is directly quoted in the film: "We will hold trial on gunmen in the streets of Los Angeles. I want them brought in dead, not alive, and I will reprimand any officer who shows the least bit of mercy to a criminal." Los Angeles Police Department excess is depicted as a post-Old West metropolitan counterpart to the countrified vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s, as the department's "Gun Squads" carry out illegal executions of criminals; not to eliminate crime, but to eliminate competition.

Danger to children is a theme that Eastwood has dealt with in his previous films, A Perfect World and Mystic River. Changeling has been considered a thematic companion piece to Mystic River, which also depicted a community contaminated by an isolated, violent act against a child—a comparison with which Eastwood agreed. He said that depicting a child in danger was "about the highest form of drama you can have", as crimes against them were to him the most horrible: "When one comes along quite as big as this one, you question humanity. It never ceases to surprise me how cruel humanity can be."

A scene featuring a character's execution by hanging was called "unbearable" by Samuel Blumenfeld of Le Monde, because of the scene's attention to detail. He said there was no more convincing plea against the death penalty. Eastwood noted that for a supporter of capital punishment, the character was an ideal candidate, and that in a perfect world, the death penalty might be an appropriate punishment for such a crime. But he said that whether one were pro- or anti-capital punishment, it must be recognized that there is a barbarism in making the execution public. Eastwood argued that in putting the guilty party before the families of his victims, justice may be done, but after such a spectacle, the family would find it hard to find peace. The scene's realism was deliberate: the audience hears the neck breaking, the body swings, and the feet shake. Eastwood said he made the scene unbearable to watch deliberately.

Historical context

Walter Collins disappeared on March 10, 1928. The aftermath of his disappearance exposed corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department and wider political infrastructure, and led to the dismissal of senior civic leaders. The case was linked to the "Wineville Chicken Coop Murders", an infamous murder case that spanned the period 1928–1930 in Southern California and received nationwide attention in the United States. In 1928, the remains of several children were discovered at a chicken ranch near Wineville (subsequently Mira Loma). The children had been killed using an axe and were buried close by. The police investigation found that the owner of the farm, along with his mother, had tortured and murdered young boys from the surrounding area. He was convicted of four murders and subsequently executed, though it was believed the killings could have numbered as many as 20. His mother was given a life sentence, served at San Quentin Prison. The filmmakers attempted to retain the names of the real-life protagonists in the case, though several characters were composites of people and the types of people who lived in 1920s Los Angeles. Eastwood deliberately left the ending of the film ambiguous to reflect the uncertain fates of several characters in the history. He said too often a story aimed to finish at the end of a film. "I prefer to leave it open."

External links

• Official website
• Changeling at IMDb
• Changeling at AllMovie
• Changeling at Box Office Mojo
• Changeling theatrical trailer
• Original Los Angeles Times stories on Walter Collins' disappearance (part 1)
• Original Los Angeles Times stories on Walter Collins' disappearance (part 2)