Changeling: The Story of a Mother

6:04 PM | Labels: Changeling, Movie Reviews, Movies

I have watched quite a lot of Angelina Jolie movies but this one deviated from the usual plots. It wasn't an action movie in which Jolie rises up as the victorious heroine. It's way too far from that actually. This movie was based on the real life story of Christine Collins back in 1928 to early 1930's. The story revolved around her and her son who just disappeared.

Christine and her daughter Walter, a 9-year old boy lived their normal life at the beginning of the movie. Everything seemed to be fine at first. She goes to work everyday, dropping and picking up Walter in school each time. She was a loving and smart mother. She taught her son to be strong despite the absence of his father. She was always telling Walter that his father didn't hate him which was what the boy thought for the absence of his father. She told her son that his father was just too afraid to face his responsibilities as a father which prompted him to live. Another thing that was really memorable for me in this movie was when she told Walter his number one rule which is, “Never start a fight, always finish it.” For me it's a good life principle to live by. They went on like that everyday until one day when she went home from work she found Walter missing. She asked for him from the Los Angeles Police District (LAPD) to look for her son. They did but unfortunately during that time a lot of children were already missing and the church was blaming and criticizing the police department of its incompetence in resolving the crime. Out of desperation of the LAPD, they brought in a boy and presented to the media that he was Mrs. Collins' son but actually he was way too far to be her son. It was a good image for the media to be able to reunite a mother and a long lost son but unfortunately it was only made for political intentions.

Mrs. Collins perfectly knew who her child was and refused to accept the boy as hers. She went through a lot, even being forcefully admitted to a psychopathic ward only to insist that her son was still missing. Later on, a separate boy who was about to be deported back to Canada told one of the police officers that his uncle uncle murdered like twenty children in is farm. Unfortunately he identified Walter as one of the many boys who was once their in the farm. His uncle was caught by the police and was hanged for multiple counts of murder but that was not able to bring back Walter. By the end part of the movie, a another young boy came out and told the authorities that he was one of the kids who escaped from the farm and he was with Walter Collins. Christine on the other hand, was triumphantly rescued from the psychopathic ward and won her case over the police department. Since then she never stopped looking for her son and never stopped hoping that one day he will also come out in the open and be back home with her.

Of all the things that Mrs. Collins went through, she remained strong and reserved. She never lost the hope and kept on looking for her missing child for years. She was able to go on living without forgetting to call the authorities each day to ask for updates on her son's case. Other mothers could have gone mad if she was just not that strong enough to face and handle herself properly. It was just a little sad because the story didn't really say if she was really able to find her son. But of all the things she already went through looking for him, I knew that she was strong enough to face any facts which she might had encountered. She was a survivor and one of the bravest mother I've known so far. And Jolie was really the most suitable actress to portray her role. It suited her character perfectly. It was a sad but pretty inspiring story.

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"Take a Glimpse of What's Inside My Mind."

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Changeling: The Story of a Mother

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