Changeling

Not to be confused with the 1979 ghost story The Changeling, this Changeling is a horror story of a very different stripe. Based on a long forgotten case buried deep in the L.A. crime files, this true tale revolves around the mysterious 1928 disappearance of 9-year-old Walter Collins. Set in an election year and with heavy political pressure on city officials and a corrupt LAPD, they find a child five months later, who they claim is Walter, and arrange to reunite him with his mother, Christine (Angelina Jolie). Only problem is she says this is not her kid. When she asks the police to continue trying to find her son, she finds herself victimized and accused of being insane and unfit for not going along with the PR campaign informing the public that the police have solved the case. With the help of a community activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich), she begins to fight the city and the police who try in every way to silence her, even committing her to a mental institution. The film details not only her valiant quest to right a wrong and find her real son but serves as a probing indictment of the police state 1920’s Los Angeles had become.