One day, Christine is called into work unexpectedly. On her day off. She had promised to take Walter to the movies, and he is visibly disappointed. See- this is why cell phones are great. You can see who is calling you and you can choose not to answer them. Christine could have had a day off with her son, but instead she answered the phone and had to go to work. She leaves her nine year old child home alone. I guess that wasn't neglect in 1928.
She is delayed on the way home when her boss stops her to offer her a promotion. She misses her trolley and gets home late. Predictably, she arrives to find her son missing. Vanished without a trace. She for some reason doesn't call the cops immediately and instead walks around her neighborhood in the damn dark. Oh, 1928. She gives up and calls the cops. She is told that she has to wait 24 hours before reporting her child missing and that 99 times out of a 100, the missing child returns home. Okay, I know Amber Alert wasn't a thing then, but where did this guy get his statistics, because I call bullshit lol.
12 minutes into the film, Malkovich appears in the form of a pastor who is hell bent on exposing the LAPD for the corrupt mess they apparently are in this movie. His name is Gustav, and they have styled the character's hair in a way that is unfortunate.
Months later in Illinois, a man and a young boy are at a diner. The man "forgets" his money and acts all shady. He says he will go home and get some money and leaves his "son" with the owner of the diner. The guy never comes back and the police are called.
Back in LA, the police contact Christine and let her know Walter has been found. She is understandably overjoyed and rushes to the train station to meet him. But when she gets there she is horrifed and says "That isn't my son". The police insist to her that he is her child. That part I don't get. A mother knows her child. You can't mistake your own flesh and blood. She is encouraged to take the kid home "on a trial basis" which is just so crazy I don't even know what to say. But she does, and she finds more and more proof that the boy isn't hers. Even the kid's teacher agrees it isn't Walter. It's a damn shame Maury Povich didn't exist back then, because he could have fixed that real quick. "Christine...in the case of 9 year old Fake-Walter...you are NOT the mother!"
Christine goes back down to the police station to say that this boy isn't hers and that Walter is still missing out there. The police chief is pissed. Really pissed. He feels like she is going to bring shame upon their department because they have "solved" this case, and now she's threatening to go public with the fact that they gave her an impostor child. So, the chief of police throws her in the psych ward. The mental hospital scenes are AWFUL. I had a visceral reaction to some of them, even.
Meanwhile, a police officer gets a call to investigate a child named Sanford who is in the country illegally from Canada and is staying on some ranch. On the way to the ranch, he passes the creepy dine-and-dash guy from earlier in the film. He totally doesn't act guilty as hell the entire time the cop interacts with him. Once at the ranch, the cop finds a young boy who runs from him but is eventually caught.
The child confesses a hideous story about how a man named Gordon Northcott has allowed him to stay on the ranch, but has forced him to witness and participate in some horrendous crimes. The boy confesses to murdering or being an accomplice to murdering upwards of 20 children. The cop is skeptical at first but then realizes the boy is telling the truth. He identifies Walter Collins in a photo as one of the boy who was murdered. And we all get to see the cop have an "OH SHIT" moment when he realizes that Christine was put into an asylum for no reason, and that she was right when she said they had delivered her a Not-Walter and insisted it was really him.
Pastor Malkovich saves the day and gets Christine out of that hospital. He continues his crusade to shed light on what happened, as well as the corruption and general epic-failness of the police department in this movie.
Eventually Northcott is cot, prosecuted, and executed, but not before he telegraphs Christine and convinces her to come see him the day before execution. He claims he is going to confess to her what happened to her boy, but when she arrives he refuses, prompting her to go temporarily batshit insane, get in his face, and say "Did you kill my son?" about 500 times. I'd love to see how many times the words "my son" appear in the script.
The death by hanging scene is intense. Northcott flips out and acts ridiculous. Seriously, you murdered 20 or so kids, you were a serial killer before the term even existed, and now you're going to boohoo cry about being punished for your crimes? Shut up, Northcott.
I really didn't know what to expect with this movie. The term Changeling made me think that it would have some supernatural element to it, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a crime drama. Angelina Jolie is fantastic in this. I am not very familiar with her movies, but she was great in this. Malkovich can do no wrong. He's not in this a whole lot, but he can do no wrong.
The movie falls apart a bit in the last half hour or so, but overall it is paced in a way that keeps it interesting. The colors are interesting, it is shot in a way that really gives it a 1920s/30s feel. It also successfully touches on my worst fears- something happening to my child, and imprisonment. I have a very irrational fear of being imprisoned or hospitalized. I do nothing to warrant either of those, yet I feel very anxious at even the thought of it. The scene where Sanford confesses, and another flashback scene were very upsetting to watch. Knowing that this was based on true events makes it all the more horrifying. I enjoyed the film, but it left me feeling sad.
it's lpr here -- i luv you -- awesome review & awesome malkovich theory as usual
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