Hacker Cinema
Changeling
2008 · Film · 142 min
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.
2 positive3 neutralfrom 5 commenters
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5 comments on Hacker News
I'd actually put one in for Clint Eastwood.
Although most popular knowledge about him revolves around his earlier acting career (Westerns, Dirty Harry), you'll notice a distinct change in many of his films once he started directing.
* Play Misty for Me
* Breezy
* Unforgiven
* A Perfect World
* The Bridges of Madison County
* Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
* Mystic River
* Million Dollar Baby
* Changeling
* Gran Torino
* American Sniper
* Sully
* The Mule
That's a favorite film right there. Thanks for posting. The origin story in the article sounds a bit more like _Witchboard_ though (another favorite), in the malevolent-spirit sense.
Things I like about _The Changeling_:
- Strong architectural admiration and even architectural focus
- Brooding everything, but with a very supportive group of people around the main brooder. His pain is their pain, and this works really well in the film. I wish more films of this type did this.
- Strong internal-sensation focus. External stimuli like loud sounds, fast movements, etc. all seem to urge the plot along yet are so sporadic and conservatively used. You feel like you are insulated, practically inside of the main character's head.
IMO this last one is essentially the suspense instrument of the film. It's much less story and much more a sensational question: What sensory thing will happen next?
I do think the antagonistic Senator could have been handled more deftly in the story, because the question of his guilt really never resolved in a way I found satisfactory. For example I think his character could have been given something of a redemption arc, making the film much more satisfactory in the end. You can easily argue that he was caught up in events beyond his control, and never had the education or assistance in processing the events.
This article didn't mention he (J. Michael Straczynski) wrote a movie directed by Clint Eastwood in 2008 that starred Angelina Jolie. Really versatile writer, remarkably so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling_(film)
The algorithms are part of the problem. Many states use a point system to assign risk and determine bail amounts. Some might be arbitrary, others based on existing statistics, but in this attempt to be blind and fair, you're either adding bias by the humans who make the algorithms or you create a self-defeating system because those stats are used incorrectly, pushing inmates into recidivism and essentially building a feedback loop. US prisons are a self perpetuating system.
In the particular case of the OP, if this is all true, it looks like they tried to call someone out who was very powerful. When corruption runs that deep, it's very difficult for change to occur. For every story that ends up like the one behind the movie Changeling, there are probably a dozen or more of people who tried to do the right thing and end up silenced in prison or mental hospitals forever.
Troy Davis was executed, even after former President Jimmy Carter spoke up and called for his case to be reexamined.
"Changeling" is one movie that portrays involuntary psychiatric admittance, although in that case it wasn't motivated by profit.