Changeling (2008)

Most people think so. 73% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics gave it 62%.

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption. Wikipedia ↗

Changeling is a 2008 American crime drama directed by Clint Eastwood, based on the true story of the 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop Murders. Angelina Jolie stars as Christine Collins, a single mother in Los Angeles whose nine-year-old son Walter disappears. Five months later, the LAPD returns a boy they claim is Walter — but Christine immediately recognizes that the child is not her son.

When she protests, the corrupt police captain, played by Jeffrey Donovan, has her committed to a psychiatric ward, labeling her delusional rather than admitting the department's incompetence. A crusading Presbyterian minister, played by John Malkovich, takes up Christine's cause. Angelina Jolie's performance captured both the fragility of a mother's desperation and the steel of a woman who refuses to accept a lie, earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

The film exposed genuine historical corruption in the LAPD and the practice of institutionalizing women who challenged male authority. Changeling earned $113 million worldwide on a $55 million budget.