History Film / Changeling

* KnightTemplar: Jones wants to uphold the good name of the police force, even if it means deceiving victims and using horrific methods to silence those in his way. Even as he is tried and has his crimes placed in front of him in court, he is still insistent that Christine shouldn't have interfered. Although this is open to AlternateCharacterInterpretation. He could simply be covering up his own incompetence.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Northcott is improperly hanged. His rope is shortened so that he strangles to death, rather than having his neck broken by it.

After five months of searching the police report that they have found Walter alive in the company of a drifter. Christine is taken to meet the boy at a train station, where she realizes that the child before her is not her son. When she attempts to make police Captain J.J. Jones (Donovan) aware of this, he insists that ''she'' is the one who is mistaken, and simply doesn't recognize her own son after the ordeal he's endured. With even the boy claiming that he is Walter Collins and that Christine is his mother, the confused woman succumbs to Captain Jones' pressure and takes the child home with her in the hopes that she will begin to recognize him.

* AdultFear: The whole plot of the film is the stuff of parents' nightmares. The story is all about a woman leaving for work, coming home to find that her child is gone, and then receiving no help at all from the authorities about it, even actively {{Gaslighting}} her when she points out their mistakes. And then comes Act 2, [[spoiler: and we find out that there's been a serial killer kidnapping children, and that Christine's son isn't the first cover-up the police have done. Also, her son is never found]]. Oh, and this all ''really happened''.

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Walter is not returned to Christine... but in the epilogue, one of Northcott's escaped victims has been found. He says that both he and Walter escaped from their prison, but were separated in the dark. Maybe Walter was recaptured by Northcott, maybe he got away.]]

* TheBadGuysAreCops: Trying to cover up their incompetence, the cops engage in {{gaslighting}} Christine Collins and unknowingly allow more time for [[spoiler: Northcott to continue murdering boys]].
* BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. Though as mentioned below under ShownTheirWork, Straczynski's meticulous research actually qualifies this to be subtitled as not just based on, but "A True Story." Still some important deviations from the true story, the most important of which is that in reality, no escape from Northcott's farm ever took place and it is established that Walter ''was'' among the murdered victims. Also, while there was speculation that Northcott might have killed up to 20 children, only three murders are officially confirmed.

* BigGood: Though the film focuses on Christine's personal ordeals, Reverend Briegleb is the one fighting for the city as a whole, and it's not until he intervenes that Christine's able to stop the LAPD destroying her further.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Although he's still clearly a horrible bastard, Northcutt has shades of this when he [[spoiler:refuses to tell Christine what happened to her son...]] because that would be a lie and [[{{Irony}} lying is a sin]]. This ''on the day of his execution.''

* CompositeCharacter: Dr. Steele, Detective Ybarra and Carol Dexter are all composites of several people from historical records.

* DirtyCop: Captain J.J. Jones, who is willing to go any length to protect the image of the LAPD, including giving Christine a stand-in for her child, forcing her to care for him, and committing her to a mental institution when she finally decides to stand up for herself. Rev. Briegleb also reveals to Christine that other corrupt cops run the city's illegal alcohol traffic, having violently murdered their rivals.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: {{Subverted}} by [[spoiler: Gordon Northcott. As he's led to the noose, he becomes increasingly pathetic.]]

* HateSink: ''All'' of the antagonists demand the audience's utter disgust, even those with mildly good intentions are conveyed as smug, vicious and utter remorseless in deceiving and torturing Collins. It's even more disturbing since they are based on real people.

* HopeSpot / ForegoneConclusion: Christine's initial belief that her son has been found alive and well. It occurs twenty minutes into a two and a half hour movie, so... [[SpoiledByTheFormat yeah]].
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Gordon Northcott claims he did not kill Walter and that Christine is accusing him of a crime he did not commit just like the police did to her. He ''may'' be right, though that still doesn't excuse everything else he did.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Dr. Steele, though forced to release Christine and all other wrongly committed women, does not seem to face any repercussions for his horrific treatment of his patients, and for all we know is still torturing some poor souls by the closing of the story.
** In real life, all the cops involved in the cover-up did not receive much comeuppance for their actions. Some were demoted, others were suspended temporarily, most were eventually reinstated. Captain Jones also never paid the damages Christine Collins was awarded.
*** With that said, given how arrogant they were and untouchable they felt, even a soft blow had to sting.

* KidsAreCruel: The fake Walter, Arthur Hutchens, agreed to go along with deceiving a grieving mother by posing as her son in return for seeing his favorite actor Tom Mix. He knows full well what he's doing and [[SmugSnake smugly]] tells officers upon interrogation he's off the hook since he's 'just a kid' (though Detective Ybarra is perfectly willing to call his bluff on that).

* YankTheDogsChain: The day before [[spoiler: his execution]], Northcott tells Christine that [[spoiler: if she comes to see him he'll tell her how he murdered her son so she can put the matter to rest]]. He then refuses, for reasons that are not entirely clear, though are apparently tied to his terror of damning himself on such a crucial day.

* AdaptedOut: Sarah Louise, Northcott's mother and accomplice to his murders, is wholly absent from the film, and in fact not even mentioned at all; the omission is rather glaring, since in real life she was possibly the one who orchestrated Walter Collins's death.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. Though as mentioned below under ShownTheirWork, Straczynski's meticulous research actually qualifies this to be subtitled as not just based on, but "A True Story." Still some important deviations from the true story, the most important of which is that in reality no escape from Northcott's farm ever took place and it is established that Walter ''was'' among the murdered victims. Also, while there was a speculation that Northcott might have killed up to 20 children, only three murders are officially confirmed.

* DisappearedDad: Walter's father apparently abandoned the family due to not likely the responsibility. In real life, his father was in jail when Walter was kidnapped facing an armed robbery charge, and speculated it might have been committed by some criminal rivals.

* BigBadDuumvirate: Though Captain Jones is Christine's personal tormentor, the Mayor and the Commissioner are the ones who foster and maintain the rampant corruption that enables him, and both are shown to not give a damn about ordinary citizens.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Although he's still clearly a horrible bastard, Northcutt has shades of this when he [[spoiler:refuses to tell Christine what happened to her son...]] because that would be a lie and [[{{Irony}} lying is a sin]]. This ''on the day of his execution.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Although he's still clearly a horrible bastard, Northcutt has shades of this when he [[spoiler:refuses to tell Christine what happened to her son...]] because that would be a lie and [[{{Irony}} lying is a sin]].

* AdultFear: What mother doesn't fear when she leaves her child alone?

* DirtyCop: Captain J.J. Jones, who is willing to go any length to protect the image of the LAPD, including giving Christine a stand-in for her child, forcing her to care for him, and committing her to a mental institution when she finally decides to stand up for herself.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: The real Christine Collins was quite a plain-looking woman. She is played here by AngelinaJolie.

* AdaptedOut: Sarah, Northcott's mother and accomplice to his murders, is wholly absent from the film, and in fact not even mentioned at all; the omission is rather glaring, since in real life she was possibly the one who orchestrated Walter Collins's death.

* CompositeCharacter: Dr Steele, Detective Ybarra and Carol Dexter are all composites of several people from historical records.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Subverted by [[spoiler: Gordon Northcott. As he's led to the noose, he becomes increasingly pathetic.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Dr Steele, though forced to release Christine and all other falsely instated women, does not seem to face any repercussions for his horrific treatment of his patients, and for all we know is still torturing some poor souls by the closing of the story.
** In real life, all the cops involved in the cover-up did not receive much comeuppance for their actions. Some were demoted, others were suspended temporarily, most were eventually re-instated.

* KidsAreCruel: The fake Walter, Arthur Hutchens, agreed to go along with deceiving a grieving mother by posing as her son in return for seeing his favorite actor Tom Mix. He knows full well what he's doing and [[SmugSnake smugly]] tells officers upon interrogation he's off the hook since he's 'just a kid' (though Detective Ybarra is perfectly willing to call a bluff on that).

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr Steele
* MusicForCourage: Northcott sings a christmas carol as he's being hanged.

* PeriodPiece: Set in the 1920s

* SeeYouInHell: When Northcott pushes Christine's BerserkButton a few times too much, she snaps and screams, "I hope you go to hell!" From his reaction, he is clearly terrified that this may be his destiny.

* HopeSpot / ForegoneConclusion: Christine's initial belief that her son has been found alive and well. It occurs twenty minutes into a 3 hour movie, so... [[SpoiledByTheFormat yeah]].

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: When Sandford tells Ybarra that he and Northcott killed "around 20" children, Ybarra quite adamantly/desperately insists that it's not true because "Nobody can just up and kill twenty kids".
* GoodIsNotSoft: Ybarra isn't a jerk or hopelessly corrupt, but he is far more competent than his crooked colleagues, as is both able to find evidence of Walter's kidnapping, and get Arthur to confess to his deception.

* SerialKiller: Gordon Northcott, who kidnapped and murdered more than 20 young boys on a small farm in California.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: We learn what happens to the main characters... [[AmbiguousSituation to a degree]].

%%
%% HeyItsThatGuy goes on the Trivia/ tab.
%%

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Gordon Northcott claims he did not kill Walter and that Christine is accusing him of a crime he did not commit just like the police did to her. He ''may'' be right, though that still doesn't excuse everything else he did.]]

%%* LackOfEmpathy

''Changeling'' is a film written by J. Michael Straczynski (''Series/BabylonFive'') and directed by Creator/ClintEastwood (''MillionDollarBaby''). It was distributed in 2008 by {{Universal}} Pictures, and stars AngelinaJolie (''{{Salt}}''), John Malkovich (''BurnAfterReading''), and Jeffrey Donovan (''Series/BurnNotice'').

* BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. Though as mentioned below under ShownTheirWork, Straczynski's meticulous research actually qualifies this to be subtitled as not just based on, but "A True Story." Still some important deviations from the true story, the most important of which is that in reality no escape from Northcott's farm ever took place and it is established that Walter ''was'' among the murdered victims.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. Though as mentioned below under ShownTheirWork, Straczynski's meticulous research actually qualifies this to be subtitled as not just based on, but "A True Story." Still some important deviations from the true story, the most important of which is that in reality no escape from Northcott's farm ever took place.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. Though as mentioned below under ShownTheirWork, Straczynski's meticulous research actually qualifies this to be subtitled as not just based on, but "A True Story."

''Changeling'' is a film written by J. Michael Straczynski (''Series/BabylonFive'') and directed by Creator/ClintEastwood (''MillionDollarBaby''). It was distributed in 2008 by {{Universal}} Pictures, and stars AngelinaJolie (''{{Salt}}''), John Malkovich (''BurnAfterReading''), and Jeffrey Donovan (''BurnNotice'').

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: At times, Jeffrey Donovan sounds less 1920s Irish-American and more 2000s [[BurnNotice Miami]].