20th Century Fox | 2009 | 111 mins. | Rated PG
There’s no doubt that crafting a film about a real life event is a tough task; most of the audience knows the ending, so it has to be interesting enough to keep people engaged. 1997’s Titanic is a great example of how to do it right: we know the boat will sink, and most of the people will die. But we also know a few people survived. It’s those few survivors that gave us some hope for excitement or happiness in the film. With Amelia, you also know the tragic ending, but in the case of this film there is nothing more for the main character after history repeats itself. However, because Earhart did such amazing things in her life, a solid dramatization of the story and strong performances by the actors involved could have made for a gripping film. Unfortunately, director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) and the others involved in the production failed to capture the essence of what made Amelia Earhart a hero to so many.
Earhart (Hilary Swank) was the first aviatrix to make a solo flight across the Atlantic. Some 70 years after her disappearance on July 2, 1937, the attempts to solve the mystery of what happened to her still continue. Though it seems pretty clear she like ditched at sea, lost to the vast ocean waters, you just never know. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston) had been attempting to circumnavigate the world; on the final leg of their journey, as they were approaching tiny Howland Island in the Pacific to refuel, they simply disappeared.
With her boyish looks, toothy grin, and proven acting skills, Swank was the perfect choice to play Earhart. For me, Swank embodies everything I image Amelia Earhart to be—she carries herself in a way that says, “I know who I am and I like it, and if you don’t, get out of my way.” She was an early feminist role model. Just a few years after her death, American women would be asked to leave their traditional roles as housewives behind and work in factory production lines to support the war effort. Amelia Earhart was one of the first to reject a traditional woman’s role in favor of her love of flight.
Nair’s film starts in June 1937, with Earhart already on her way around the world. Her husband and publicist George Putnam (Richard Gere) is getting word that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan are flying against stronger headwinds than anticipated, and may not have enough fuel to reach Howland Island. The film then flashes back to when Earhart fell in love with flying as a young girl in Kansas. The scene is brief, and provides no real clues as to what truly lead to her obsessive need to fly. Unfortunately, this scene is like the rest of the film; no significant details are revealed, much is glossed over, and we get a story that most could put together by reading an encyclopedia entry about Earhart.
From there, it isn’t long before Putnam hires Earhart to fly as a passenger to cross the Atlantic. This first flight is one of the film´s better scenes and whether or not Earhart almost fell out of the plane happened, it contains one of the most dramatic moment of the film. Putnam, who had published Charles Lindbergh’s memoir, is portrayed as a shrewd businessman who clearly knows how to sell a product; in this case, Amelia Earhart. While I’m not in a position to question the validity of George Putnam’s Love for the aviatrix, within the context if the film it feels tacked on. When Putnam steals a kiss from her in the car, there was no indication that that’s where things were headed. The marriage proposal and fit of jealously do not feel genuine and the whole romantic arc between Putnam and Earhart feels as if it were a secondary thought while filming. For whatever reason, a lot of time is devoted to Earhart’s rumored affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) an aeronautics teacher at West Point, and helped found three airlines during the 1920’s and 1930’s—Eastern Airlines, TWA, and Northeast Airlines along with Earhart. While Swank has little chemistry with Gere, there are definite sparks with McGregor, and Swank’s scenes with young Gore Vidal (William Cuddy) are rather sweet.
I think Earhart’s story is one that deserved to be told, and definitely held some excitement and lessons to be learned. However, the story falls flat. Much of the blame lies with the screenplay by Ron Bass (Snow Falling on Cedars, Stepmom) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (Gorillas in the Mist). Rather than structuring each section of Earhart’s life into a story with a plot, Bass and Phelan simply regurgitate a series of incidents. Here’s where Amelia did this. And here’s where she did this other thing. Why, here she is now, doing something else. These scenes have little connection to each other. One does not seem to lead to the next. Many scenes seem like they could be shown in random order without affecting anything.
Those interested in the life of Amelia Earhart, will likely find Amelia interesting. But taken on its own merits, Amelia is a film that simply fails to really get off the ground. The filmmakers seemed to gloss over the story about what made Amelia want to be the aviatrix she became, and instead focused on her romantic entanglements. Amelia Earhart deserved better.
Amelia’s 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is solid, with an image that’s remarkably detailed and full of color. Stuart Dryburgh’s cinematography paints a warm, vivid picture using a unified palette featuring prominent reds, especially of the primary, fire-engine, red variety. Whether we’re on the dusty plains of Gambia or in the middle of a misty Nova Scotian morning, color is deeply saturated and the image as a whole is frequently striking, with superlative depth and presence. Skin tones are entirely natural, black levels are consistently inky, and shadow delineation is fabulous. You’ll count rivets on the side of the Lockheed Electra, note the texture on a leather flight jacket, spot each bit of grime on an engine cowling, and make out each dusty orange strand of Amelia’s hair. Grain is exceedingly fine, and there are no overt technical anomalies to spoil the look.
As is the case with every release from Fox Home Video, Amelia utilizes a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound-mix that is as strong audibly as the transfer is visually. An early scene with tickertape devices providing ambience sounds great and a near final scene where the ocean can be heard getting increasingly closer provides detailed audio. A few of the period musical selections are also among the stronger offerings in the film and the musical score by Gabriel Yared is warm and fills the room with sound. Dialogue was strong throughout.
Amelia offers the following special features:
• Making Amelia (1080i, 23:06) Making Amelia explores Hilary Swank’s transformation, the personal life of Amelia Earhart, and the challenges of scouting locations where you can land antique airplanes. Features interviews with Mira Nair, Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, and several others.
• The Power of Amelia Earhart (1080i, 10:45) Culled from the same interview sessions in the previous documentary, the focus here is initially on Amelia’s cultural legacy, but it also covers the film’s production and costume design.
• The Plane Behind the Legend (1080i, 4:33) Mira Nair discusses how she really didn’t want the film to turn into a “computer graphics fest,” so it was important to find a fully functioning Lockheed Electra.
• Re-Constructing the Planes of Amelia (1080i, 6:37) Visual Consultant Paul Austerberry leads us through the warehouse where the preproduction crew built full-size mockups of four planes featured in the film.
• Movietone News (SD, 6:41 total) Seven original Fox Movietone news reels that cover several of Amelia Earhart’s flights.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 13:53 total) Ten deleted scenes are provided.
• Digital Copy of the film
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