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From the very beginning Clint Eastwood telegraphs his intentions
for his new film Changeling through his choices of lighting and color.
The colors are undersaturated and muted, and the lighting shifts from
overexposure on the exteriors that render the sky a stifling white to
high contrast indoor scenes reminiscent of old-fashioned film noir.
Recreating a true story, Eastwood opts to depict the stark
contrasts of the story: good and evil and light and dark without the
perception-taxing influence of spectrum. If you take the film in with
this in mind, you may get something out of it. If not, you will
probably admire the wardrobe department and a few notable performances,
but will leave with little else.
Many critics are complaining about the flatness of the characters,
but that seems to be Eastwood's goal here. He makes no attempts to
explain why a man would want to kill innocent children and does not
give any insight on the corrupting nature of power. He just depicts
it...relentlessly. It would not be so bad if he were not so
heavy-handed in his depiction, however. The bad cops are so obviously
bad all the time, it is a bit insulting to the viewer. Yes, Mr.
Eastwood, we understand by hour-marker 2.1 that these cops are liars,
so do we really need another scene so near the end that depicts the
police chief lying with such self-deprecating candor?
The irony is that Eastwood and writer J. Michael Straczinksy have
not taken many liberties with the source material. The original story
is one of those stranger than fiction sort of tales, but when telling
these tales, it takes an artful touch to make even the truth feel real,
and much of that touch is lacking in the film. You find yourself
wondering over and over, "Could this really happen?"
Strangely enough, this is why I think the film is worth the time.
While Changeling may be shallow in its psychological or social
revelations, it keeps pounding the point home: "You think this
is crazy? Guess what-it happened." Like movies that focus on the
Holocaust or the painful realities of war, Changeling is yet another in
a long line of works reminding us that we need to be ever vigilant to
notice corruption and evil. In addition, the film shows us positive
examples of two professions that too often get the lion's share of
flack in our society: a preacher and a lawyer. While these characters
are again quite one-dimensional, they serve as a reminder that just
because a structure has been compromised in the past, people who choose
goodness can still use those structures to overcome evil.
The film has its share of weaknesses to be sure. For the life of
me, I just do not get Clint Eastwood's motivation sometimes. This is
the third film I have seen (after A Perfect World and Mystic River) in
which I found myself wondering, "Was that the last scene? Why are we
still here?" It is almost as if Eastwood likes movies so much he just
cannot help staying in the theater another 25 unnecessary minutes.
Then there are those few moments that smack of staginess. One in
particular that I found hardly bearable was the hanging scene in which
the accused sang Silent Night to pass his last minute on earth while
Eastwood cut back and forth to the onlookers and the masked
murderer. Watching Eastwood and Straczynski try to make this moment
work is like watching a little boy who didn't prepare his act for the
talent show flail about hoping that people will find his meaningless
movements appealing.
There was some Oscar-buzz surrounding Changeling, but since its
release it is all too evident that the film will probably not bring
home any of the higher honors. Nonetheless, I recommend it, if only for
its stark reminder of extreme examples of evil, and what it looks like
to combat them.
Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, and language.
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