Changeling
Directed by Clint Eastwood, Changeling stars Angelina Jolie in an Oscar nominated role in this tragic historically-based thriller. Jolie plays Christine Collins, a single mother living in 1920s Los Angeles and working to support herself and her nine-year-old son Walter, as a phone company supervisor. One day, when she’s at work, Walter disappears. At first the police are not that helpful, but as time wore on, pressed both by her persistence and the anti-corruption crusading efforts of a local Presbyterian pastor, the police do what they can to find her son. The only problem is that the boy they find in De Kalb, Illinois, the boy who claims that he’s Walter, isn’t her son. They boy plays the role he’s chosen so that he can go to LA and meet Tom Mix. On the day of the well-publicized reunion she finds that this boy is an impostor, but no one will believe her. She takes the boy home, more out of pity and concern for a child, than anything, but she continues to press her case – to no avail.
Part of the focus of the movie is on police corruption. But another element is the way women were portrayed and understood in that era. She was a strong, self-sufficient woman. She was a supervisor of operators and was even under consideration for a management position in the phone company. Despite that reality, she was considered emotionally and mentally frail. When she pushes the police captain, he derides her for wanting to shirk her responsibilities. Their experts, he tells her, know better than she as to the identity of her child. The fact that the child is 3 inches shorter than Walter and is circumcised, makes no difference. Trauma must have shortened the boy and the abductor must have had him circumcised for hygienic reasons. When she joins forces with the crusading pastor, they pull her off the streets and throw her into a mental institution – along with a number of other women who had also stood up to the police. This was a department that used its power to control the population – and what better way to silence someone than declare them mentally incompetent.
The story gets another twist, as the movie wanders toward its conclusion – we discover a serial killer, and the question is – was Walter a victim?
I don’t want to give away the entire plot or the ending, but this is an intriguing movie that reminds us that our civil liberties are fragile. In times of crisis they can be abridged, and when abridged they can be abused. It reminds us that when you control the police you can, if the law is lenient, use it to silence critics.
The character that intrigues me the most, but who is the least developed, is the Presbyterian Pastor. This is 1920s and 1930s Los Angeles. The most prominent preacher of the day was Aimee Semple McPherson – and she had her run ins with the police – but she’s not a character in this movie. Instead, the fighting preacher who preaches on the radio and challenges the political establishment, is Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) – not your typical Presbyterian name --but he was pastor of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and police corruption was a topic of his sermons. However, there is little evidence that he used the radio – unlike his friend and colleague “Fighting” Bob Shuler (a regular critic of McPherson). Apparently some of the scenes in which Collins and Briegleb discuss the case ended up on the cutting room floor in order to tighten up the movie. This decision causes the character to be left undeveloped. We see that he’s a crusader for justice, but we’re not told why. What is his motivation? How did he get into this position? From what I read elsewhere, he was the leader of the local ministerial association, an opponent of both political and moral corruption (including that of Hollywood), but he was also, apparently strongly supportive of women’s rights and opposed the formation by J. Gresham Machen of an alternative Presbyterian missions board. So, if one knows some of this background, one would assume that he is a social gospeler, but that is not developed in the movie. Perhaps, we preachers are the only ones interested in that part of the story, but it would have helped us understand where he was coming from. As the movie portrays him, he’s kind of one dimensional. You’re left thinking that all he does is criticize the police from the pulpit – but surely there was more to his message?
Like any historically based film, this one takes liberties in order to move the plot forward. Names are changed, the story modified. It was nominated for several Academy and Golden Globe Awards, and Jolie was nominated for her portrayal of Christine Collins. It is a movie worth seeing and contemplating for what it says about corruption, the denigration of women, and even if not fully developed, at least it portrays a preacher in a relatively positive light – as one standing up for justice and truth.
Changeling is now out on DVD!
Part of the focus of the movie is on police corruption. But another element is the way women were portrayed and understood in that era. She was a strong, self-sufficient woman. She was a supervisor of operators and was even under consideration for a management position in the phone company. Despite that reality, she was considered emotionally and mentally frail. When she pushes the police captain, he derides her for wanting to shirk her responsibilities. Their experts, he tells her, know better than she as to the identity of her child. The fact that the child is 3 inches shorter than Walter and is circumcised, makes no difference. Trauma must have shortened the boy and the abductor must have had him circumcised for hygienic reasons. When she joins forces with the crusading pastor, they pull her off the streets and throw her into a mental institution – along with a number of other women who had also stood up to the police. This was a department that used its power to control the population – and what better way to silence someone than declare them mentally incompetent.
The story gets another twist, as the movie wanders toward its conclusion – we discover a serial killer, and the question is – was Walter a victim?
I don’t want to give away the entire plot or the ending, but this is an intriguing movie that reminds us that our civil liberties are fragile. In times of crisis they can be abridged, and when abridged they can be abused. It reminds us that when you control the police you can, if the law is lenient, use it to silence critics.
The character that intrigues me the most, but who is the least developed, is the Presbyterian Pastor. This is 1920s and 1930s Los Angeles. The most prominent preacher of the day was Aimee Semple McPherson – and she had her run ins with the police – but she’s not a character in this movie. Instead, the fighting preacher who preaches on the radio and challenges the political establishment, is Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) – not your typical Presbyterian name --but he was pastor of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and police corruption was a topic of his sermons. However, there is little evidence that he used the radio – unlike his friend and colleague “Fighting” Bob Shuler (a regular critic of McPherson). Apparently some of the scenes in which Collins and Briegleb discuss the case ended up on the cutting room floor in order to tighten up the movie. This decision causes the character to be left undeveloped. We see that he’s a crusader for justice, but we’re not told why. What is his motivation? How did he get into this position? From what I read elsewhere, he was the leader of the local ministerial association, an opponent of both political and moral corruption (including that of Hollywood), but he was also, apparently strongly supportive of women’s rights and opposed the formation by J. Gresham Machen of an alternative Presbyterian missions board. So, if one knows some of this background, one would assume that he is a social gospeler, but that is not developed in the movie. Perhaps, we preachers are the only ones interested in that part of the story, but it would have helped us understand where he was coming from. As the movie portrays him, he’s kind of one dimensional. You’re left thinking that all he does is criticize the police from the pulpit – but surely there was more to his message?
Like any historically based film, this one takes liberties in order to move the plot forward. Names are changed, the story modified. It was nominated for several Academy and Golden Globe Awards, and Jolie was nominated for her portrayal of Christine Collins. It is a movie worth seeing and contemplating for what it says about corruption, the denigration of women, and even if not fully developed, at least it portrays a preacher in a relatively positive light – as one standing up for justice and truth.
Changeling is now out on DVD!
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