Last week, I got the chance to finally see "Changeling" starring Angelina Jolie. I'm not a Jolie fan, but I loved the idea of a movie based during the early 1900's. Before I go into the plot of the story, I just have to say, whoever cast her as the lead could not have made a better choice."Changeling" is a story about Christine Collins, a single mother living the suburbans of Los Angeles with her son, Walter. Her world crashed when she came home from work one day and couldn't find her son. She searched high and low for him and even when filing a police report, Collins never completely let the police take over and continued searching for young Walter.
A year after Walter's disappearance, the Los Angeles Police brought back a boy from another state, claiming that this boy was her son. Collin's first reaction was not of what people would think a mother would have when being reunited with her long lost son because she knew that wasn't her Walter. Yet, the little boy insisted on being Walter and even calls her "mommy." 
Not wanting to look bad in front of the crowd of press, the police said in a low tone of voice to Collins for her to take the child home and "test" the child out as children often appear different after a year of being missing.
This movie showed a series of events that eventually lead up to the boy admitting that he was not Walter, to the Los Angeles police finding a mass murderer by chance because of a complaint that there was an illegal immigrant from Canada, whom turned out to be the cousin of the mass murderer.
Most of the events in this movie were actually true. The Los Angeles Police Department was as corrupted as shown in this film. The officers involved in Walter Collin's search were depicted based on accuracy. There was testimony the event of the police officer telling Collins to "try" the boy out in the movie was the actual words spoken by the chief of LAPD.
The press coverage by Los Angeles Times, shown in the movie, were actual articles that were written in the 1930's. As cool as I thought it would be to see those articles, I didn't want to pay to retrieve them from LA Times' archives. But, they are available with stunning headlines such as, "Collins' boy missing" and "Mass murderer admits to killings," which all referred or tied in with the case of Walter Collins.
There were some information that were left out or not made clear in the movie. In the beginning the of the film, we see Walter asking his mother where his father was. Collins answers him with "he left with a little box filled with responsibilities." However, a census showed that Collins was living with her husband in the late 1920's. There were also listening of the Collins' family living in Venice Beach where three residents shared the home.
A very important character was left out of this movie. The film only showed one mass murderer living on the Wineville Chicken Farm, however, that was not true. Not as depicted, the Gordon Northcott was not solely responsible for the death of dozens of children. In fact, he wasn't even the real mastermind behind the murders. His "mother," Louisa Northcott, was actually the one making sure all the kidnaps were done properly and even made sure that the children were dead
by chopping them up into pieces.
by chopping them up into pieces.Though Gordon referred to Louisa as his mother, officials later find out that Louisa was actually his grandfather, however, since Gordon was an incest product of his father and his sister, his grandmother (or aunt, or mother, as he referred to her), Louisa, raised him.
It's uncertain why Clint Eastwood left Louisa out of the film. Many critics say that the film was based fairly accurately. Walter Collins was never found, and it was never confirmed that the Northcotts had murdered him since none of Walter's remains were found during the investigation. Though Louisa Northcott admitted to killing Walter, a boy that the Northcott admitted to killing was found alive years later.
Some interesting history was shown in this movie. After the murderers were caught, Wineville decided to change their name into what the city is presently known as, "Mira Loma." The notorious farm was actually found and people believe that there are residence on the property. Interesting, I wonder if they know the history of that farm. The film also showed the history of corruption in the city of Angels. Those who was suppose to serve and protect, not only do not compete their job, but also teamed up with the Los Angeles gangsters to intimidate the citizens.
This movie showed a courageous mother who wouldn't give up looking for her son. Collins was shown in the film as a woman who changed the history of child investigations. She also was not afraid to go against what, at the time, was the most corrupted police department in California. Collins later on sued the captain of LAPD for negligence and won. Though Collins never found Walter, she changed lives for many in the community. She gave other parents who's child was missing, hope and inspiration to never give up.
