First Hit: This true story is very well written, directed, acted, and photographed. It is simply a very good film.
Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins a mother of a quiet, mindful 9 year old boy who disappears from their home before she comes home from working an extra shift as a supervisor in the telephone company.
What creates additional guilt for her is that she had promised her son to take him to a movie that Saturday and reneged from this promise to work overtime. As she was leaving to rush home to her son, her boss stopped her to share that he wanted to promote her to a new position because of her good work.
In having this conversation, she misses the trolley home and therefore gets home later than she had planned. Arriving home her son is gone and after searching the neighborhood, she calls the police who tell her they cannot do anything until 24 hours have passed.
The next day the police show up and take their report. A number of months go by when she receives a call from the police saying they found her boy in Indiana and they are shipping him home to LA. On the appointed day the police, her and the press are there to meet the train.
When the child appears, Christine tells the police captain that the boy they’ve brought to her is not her child. The captain objects and in a beautifully acted 3 minute scene Christine ends up agreeing to take the boy home because there is enormous pressure, in front of the press, to show that the police are doing their job. From this set up the film unfolds in an incredible story of power, corruption, deceit, and justice.
Jolie is fantastic in this film that is filled with both overt, large scale emotions and subtle emotions. In every way her performance is strong and consistent. John Malkovich is good as Reverend Gustav Briegleb a minister who is campaigning to clean up city hall and uses his weekly radio program to target the LA Police Department for their corruption. He comes to the aid of Jolie and supports her through the process of searching for her son. Jeffrey Donovan is strong as the steely, controlling and contained Captain J.J. Jones whose job it is to find Jolie’s son and control the spin as Jolie refutes the found boy as her son. Eastwood directs this cast through this story with patience and clarity of vision. The cinematography is wonderful and the 1920s and 1930s time period is captured nicely.
Overall: This is a very fine film with a compelling story, great acting, and fine execution.