REEL CRITIC:

Although Angelina Jolie has won an Academy Award for best supporting actress (“Girl Interrupted,” 1999), she is best known for being perhaps the most famous woman in the world.

Her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, being the mother of several adopted children from various Third World countries, her current relationship with actor Brad Pitt, with whom she has three biological children, her dalliances with other famous men, and her estranged relationship with her father, Jon Voight, have often overshadowed her acting work and such iconic roles as Lara Croft.

Given their respective positions in the celebrity firmament, pairing the famously controlled Clint Eastwood as director with the larger-than-life Jolie doesn’t appear to be a natural fit. Despite this seeming mismatch, Jolie stars in Eastwood’s latest offering, “The Changeling.”

Interestingly, the film claims to be a true story rather than offering the caveat “based on a true story.” Supposedly, this designation denotes a stricter adherence to facts than most films, and “The Changeling” certainly has a gritty, realistic feel.

Jolie stars as Christine Collins, a single mother working as a supervisor of switchboard operators at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph in 1920s Los Angeles. The apple of Christine’s eye is her 9-year old son, Walter. On March 10, 1928, Christine is unexpectedly called in to work on a Saturday and has to leave Walter home alone. She instructs Walter not to leave the house and asks neighbors to look in on him. Unfortunately, when Christine returns home, the boy is gone.

After an exhaustive search of the neighborhood, Christine attempts to report Walter’s disappearance to the police, but they told her they would not take a report until the boy was missing for 48 hours. Weeks, then months, go by with no word as Christine clings to the hope that her boy is still alive.

Several months later, the police tell Christine that her son has been found. The embattled Los Angeles Police Department has been rocked by scandal for years and views the highly publicized reunion of mother and son as a rare opportunity for positive publicity. These plans go awry when Christine says the boy is not her son. Overwhelmed by the circumstances and the immense pressure applied by the police, Christine takes the boy home.

Armed with corroboration, Christine goes to the police to demand they continue searching for her still missing son. When the police realize she cannot be dissuaded, she is involuntarily confined to a mental institution as a “code 12,” a Los Angeles statute used to confine “hysterical” women.

Eastwood has painstakingly recreated 1920s Los Angeles. The city hall, now dwarfed by modern skyscrapers, dominates the landscape. The famous red cars roll down the palm-lined streets with period authentic automobiles. Even Northcott’s chicken ranch in Wineville (now Mira Loma) is appropriately desolate. Authentic clothing, houses, offices and furnishings complete the picture. Eastwood chose muted sepia tones for the film, which only adds to the sense of appropriate time and place.

Eastwood has as usual cast superlative leading and supporting actors for this film. Colm Feore plays corrupt LAPD Chief James E. Davis as an aloof bully no better than the criminals he is supposed to control. Jeffrey Donovan plays Capt. J.J. Jones, the officer in charge who attempts to protect the staged outcome at whatever cost.

“The Changeling” is really the story of Christine Collins. Jolie’s performance is the key to the film and she certainly delivers. The script requires Jolie to transition from the doting mother, to anguish, fear, outrage and, finally, resignation. Jolie is outstanding, and Eastwood is to be congratulated for coaxing yet another outstanding performance from his star.

The film, Eastwood and Jolie will almost all certainly receive numerous award nominations. While the competition this year promises to be fierce, this film will most likely not be overlooked.

VAN NOVACK is the assistant vice president of institutional research and assessment at Cal State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife, Elizabeth.