In several movies, Clint Eastwood has highlighted strong women with harrowing challenges and this is true of Changeling. Based on a 1928 story, this video hammers our belief that bad can’t continue getting worse.
Set in a corrupt LA where the law is bought, bribed, bent, and mangled, Mrs. Collins comes home to an empty house, her son missing. The police are reluctant to respond and when Mrs Collins insists that her son wouldn’t visit friends, or disappear on his own, their reply, “we hear this from all of our parents” is believable.
Of course the audience is primed for dire results. But forearmed with information on the actual case does little to prepare the viewer with the crisp, flawless delivery that spirals deeper and darker.
Perhaps the current darkness and depressive situations of today’s news helps to sell the Changeling. Perhaps experiencing an even darker time of another individual and vicariously riding on the triumph of another’s strength, fortitude, and unswerving convictions helps lighten our own depression. I definitely appreciated the inspiration, the hope, the positive.
For those wanting to read more background:
NPR’s coverage: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95935010
Or an LA Times article written by Rasmussen in 1999, excepts from a book: articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/07/local/me-5769
