Clint Eastwood's angry obsession with American violence and the limits of legal justice (
Unforgiven,
Mystic River) bursts into flower again with this grim drama based on the Wineville Chicken Murders, which shocked Los Angeles in 1928. A single mother (Angelina Jolie) goes to the LAPD when her nine-year-old boy disappears; five months later a corrupt and complacent police captain (Jeffrey Donovan) announces the boy has been found but presents her with another child, insisting she just doesn't recognize him and coercing her to shut up and cooperate. This incredible but true story marks the first time Eastwood's signature themes have found expression in a woman's experience, and the absence of any distracting machismo only heightens his sense of helpless rage at the perpetual anguish of victims' families. With John Malkovich, Michael Kelly, Amy Ryan, and Jason Butler Harner. R, 140 min.
By
J.R. Jones
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