Angelina Jolie: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Christine Collins - Changeling (2008)

The sign of a great actor is being able to give performances which completely confound people's expectations. In 2008 Jolie was coming off the back of the totally ridiculous Wanted and an utterly bizarre performance as Grendel's Mother in Robert Zemeckis' mo-cap version of Beowulf. It would take something truly remarkable to remind us of how capable she was of giving nuanced, intriguing performances. That something turned out to be Changeling, which brought Jolie her second Oscar nomination. Directed by the steady-handed Clint Eastwood, Changeling is partly based on a real-life kidnapping and murder case which took place in Los Angeles in 1928. Jolie plays Christine Collins, a young mother who returns home to find that her nine-year-old son Walter is missing. Months later, under pressure from their superiors and the local Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), the LAPD announce that they have found Collins' son. When the pair are reunited, Collins is adamant that the boy is not her son, but the police refuse to believe her. Changeling is a very powerful story about corruption, intimidation and the ways in which women are marginalised and disempowered in modern society. Jolie initially turned down the part, on the grounds that she found the subject matter too distressing, but it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Jolie handles the more hysterical or vulnerable moments with all her usual aplomb, but she also brings a great strength and dogged determination to the character which illuminates many of the film's pertinent social themes. If nothing else, she deserved that Oscar nomination. And speaking of the Oscars...