The Changeling - A Warning

Onto something completely different.

If you haven't seen the movie The Changeling - I'd just like to warn people who are like me.

Edited to Add: I should be clear that I thought this movie was excellent. This movie is about so many things that are intertwined but I wanted to warn people about one aspect of the movie I wasn't prepared for.

You may remember that I watch true-crime documentaries and such. I do it to honour the person who was killed (some have been so upsetting I have almost threw up a few times). I like knowing how the person who committed such horrible acts was caught and sometimes I'm looking for the why.

I've learned that in the truly horrible tragic stomach turning crimes there is no why. There are people out there who are just sick. In the case where a motive is found I feel like all the pieces have been put on the table. I don't understand how someone can kill another human but if someone can give me a why (even a twisted, mentally ill reason why) I seem more able to cope.

It's the murders without motive that haunt me and the ones involving children upset me to no end.

I'm heading into spoiler territory for the movie so if you would rather watch the movie without influence from me or knowledge of things that happen in the movie then don't read any further.

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

P

A

C

E


First, the movie opens with A True Story. It does not say 'based on a true story' which I thought a film had to do if 'dramatic' license was taken. Thus, I can assume this story, in all it's parts are true.

Again, the previews gave me no clue of what I was about to learn (from what I can see, there are no other previews - from this preview I figured it was about a corrupt police organization and possibly the mob. I was thinking the boy got caught in the middle.) Actually, the preview is brilliant in not showing the audience all that they will experience in the film. Being a non-spoiler type of person I would normally have loved this.

Onwards.

I had never heard about the murders that The Changeling movie touches on. I'm still horrified and feeling sick. For some reason I thought The Changeling was about the mix up of a police force over a missing child. This movie is eye opening and really it's excellent. It is about so many things - with power corruption, women being treated as second class citizens (huge part of this movie - at least to me), propaganda and horribly, about a serial killer who it is believed killed up to 20 boys in little over a year.

The serial killer part alone was horrifying and upsetting, it was hearing the events from a boy's mouth in the film that had me squirming in my seat feeling sick to my stomach. Knowing myself though I couldn't stop the movie. I have walked away from documentaries or real-life crime shows when I couldn't handle the horror. When I do this, it takes me days to recover and yes, my over active imagination plagues me with 'what ifs'.

I've learned I have to sit and see it through.

I was so jumpy and sick after this movie even Bob was worried. Those little sounds a house makes in the night had me freaking out and jumping out of my skin. I know I had a few nightmares about children but I came out of my sleep feeling more like myself. When I see something through I can usually shake off the physical sensations in a day and a bit.

When I saw Shindler's List there about 2 years ago I was a mess physically and mentally for almost 2 weeks. I watched it with the belief that I needed to know and honor those who died in Nazi Germany during WWII. I had no idea the level of evil I was going to encounter in that movie. Sure, I had an idea but OMG, the movie messed me up something fierce. And seriously, it should mess up a normal person.

For The Changeling, I was broadsided by the real life horror that occurred in 1928.

So for those who are too sensitive to real life tragedies I would say either pass on this movie or go in knowing you will encounter a scene unlike any I've had to sit through in cinema. That said, I have never seen Private Ryan and have no plans to ever see the movie.

Okay, end of public service announcement.

Anyone else see this movie? What are your thoughts?