Mother Lost

Dismissed and pressured into accepting the boy, Christine's attempts to restart the search for her own child are refused. The police have closed the case and she and her witnesses are an embarrassment that must be put down. Fortunately for the police Christine is a woman, and common male prejudice shouts that females are either emotional to the point of hysteria or, if calm, disassociated or delusional. She is summarily, without medical or legal examination bundled into an institution where she is told that she can leave if she signs a declaration accepting the child and the police's right to call her insane. This is the almost-lost real-life story of a woman who brought down one generation of American corruption. Changeling brought back memories to this reviewer. When I started out I received mail to "Mr", not because my name looked male, but because my JOB was "male" (managerial). This continued through the 1980s. Christine is portrayed as apologetic throughout the film; cautious and humble in her demeanour. This is something that today's young women won't understand -- that to question the wisdom of, or even be impolite to, a male was the act of a disreputable woman. Even today there are many homebody pet-women, the 'respectable (sic)' housewives who perpetrate the myth of masculine superiority.

In Christine's day, to argue, even to request humbly, were atrocities of behaviour. The lot of the female, the code by which Christine was expected to act was acceptance, don't make waves, apologise, concur. That she did not establishes this woman as more heroic than any muscle-bound bloke gunning down the bad-guys in an action flick.

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by Ali Kayn Due for Australian release 2008 For credits and official site details, see below Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below. See also:

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Just the facts: Title: Changeling (2008) Written by: J. Michael Stracznski Directed by: Clint Eastwood Produced by: Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Edited by: Joel Cox, Gary Roach Director of Photography: Tom Stern running time: 141 mins rating: MA The Players: Angelina Jolie; John Malkovich; Official website: Official Site IMDb For session times of current films, use the cinema listings on the Movie links page. For scheduled release dates, see the coming attractions section. For more information about this movie, check out the internet movie database. For the latest additions to Festivale, check out the change history section.