Tragic Amelia Never Achieves Liftoff
It sort of goes without saying that any biopic about legendary Depression-era aviator Amelia Earhart has only so many directions in which to fly, the fact her 1937 disappearance over the Pacific Ocean remains one of the most talked about mysteries of all time a somewhat unavoidable fact. Going into any movie about the woman the audience already knows how things must end, that little truth casting a humongous shadow on any and all dramatics taking place within the narrative.
Hilary Swank in Fox Searchlights' Amelia
Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an interesting movie about Earhart just waiting to be told. As a pioneer for women’s rights and liberation what she must have gone through to achieve her dreams of transcontinental flight had to have been extraordinary, the tenacity of spirit involved a thing I can only imagine ever possessing myself.
Unfortunately, director Mira Nair’s (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) beautifully filmed but emotionally aloof Amelia only hints at the complex character traits allowing for Earhart to take to the sky. Based on a pair of biographies by Susan Butler (“East of the Dawn”) and Mary S. Lovell (“The Sound of Wings”) and working from a screenplay by Ron Bass (Rain Man) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (Girl, Interrupted), the movie is a shockingly empty vehicle that frustratingly never achieves liftoff. Its insights are mostly superficial in nature, and where I was hoping for complexity and nuance all I received were melodramatic platitudes that did nothing to enlighten me to the driving force behind this woman’s desires.
I do not blame the actors for any of this. Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (who also executive produced) is just fine as Earhart, the actress not only baring an uncanny resemblance to the historical figure but also possessing a strength of spirit I think fits her darn near perfectly. Richard Gere is just fine as her husband and publicist George Putnam, and while he doesn’t have much to work with the film’s best and most emotionally affecting moments end up belonging to him all the same.
The rest of the cast, including Ewan McGregor as aviation pioneer Gene Vidal and Christopher Eccleston as Earhart’s ill-fated around-the-world navigator Fred Noonan, do what the can but the screenplay makes them even bigger enigmas than it does Putnam. Everything they do reeks of melodramatic cliché, and while I know each is based on historical figures they both felt so false and inauthentic I almost wondered if they were imaginary.
It’s not all bad. Stuart Dryburgh’s (The Painted Veil) cinematography is elegantly divine, giving me the illusion of flight so often I could almost feel myself looking down upon vast African vistas and never-ending pulsating waves of ocean right along with Earhart. I also felt like Gabriel Yared’s (The English Patient) score bordered on perfection, the veteran composer easily delivering one of the very best musical accompaniments of 2009.
I do find it a little funny and ironic that ultimately the film’s tensest, most authentic moments occur during the one portion where everyone sitting in the theater knows exactly what is about to happen. While what befell Amelia Earhart over the Pacific remains a mystery, the fact she did not complete her journey is not. Somehow Nair manages to turn this part of the narrative into something downright sensational. Without even realizing it I was suddenly sitting right at the very edge of my seat, and even though I knew failure was the only option the filmmaker manages to craft just enough in the way of mystery I couldn’t help but hope for a historical re-write.
The problem is this emotional connection to the pilot was far too little and ended up coming much too late. As words of hope and inspiration were drawn from tragedy and heartbreak I didn’t so much shed a tear as I instead shrugged my shoulders. While the romantic inside of me wanted Earhart to succeed the person I am didn’t know much more about the woman walking out of the theater as I did when I entered it.
I felt cheated and used, the pieces for a classic old school Hollywood biography all in place but with no one seemingly interested enough to take the time to put them all together. It felt like the filmmakers were just going through the motions, everyone so positive they had a sure thing that they didn’t quite feel the need to work to their usual standards in order to make it a success. Sadly, much like Earhart’s final adventure crossing the globe, Amelia is a tragedy, crashing to earth in a fiery ball even before it had the opportunity to get off the ground.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
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