Movie Review: Amelia

Amelia is 2 hours long and you feel every minute of it. It is not a good movie and it should be. The screenplay was written by Anna Hamilton Phelan who wrote Girl Interrupted and Gorillas In the Mist, and Ronald Bass who wrote Rain Man. Three outstanding movies. It was directed by Mira Nair who directed The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding and a number of very notable documentaries. Hilary Swank, the Oscar winning actress who blew everybody away with her portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry and who was the Million Dollar Baby and who happens to be a dead ringer for Amelia, plays Amelia. So, why doesn't the movie work? Because it's not compelling. The story of Amelia Earhart is compelling so at the very least you should walk out of the movie theater feeling like you have seen a compelling story - but you don't - because you haven't. Biopics are very challenging. For the most part, everybody in the audience already knows what happened. The movies 'job' is to give you insight into the character. What drove her? Was it her alcoholic father (who actually spent time in a sanitarium drying out)? Was it her courageous mother? One interesting fact only mentioned as an addendum is that Amelia's' mother, Amy, was the first woman to climb Pikes Peak. Some of the more fascinating aspects of her life; her bisexuality, the possibility of her being a spy, her infidelities are barely touched or not mentioned at all. The disappointment is that the movie only tells us what we all already know and does it in a very uninspiring way. On the upside, the cinematography is gorgeous and the costuming is perfect. The movie also stars Richard Gere, miscast (he's too old) as her publicist husband, George Putnam and Ewan McGregor as Gene Vidal, fellow aviator and lover (one little kiss in an elevator). Vidal's son Gore, who we do get a glimpse of, grows up to be the very famous novelist, Gore Vidal. He wrote the book Lincoln which sits on my bookshelf and I have read twice. Wait for the movie to come out On Demand and watch it on your flat screen.

I want to mention two movies that live up to the challenge of the biopic; The Aviator and Le Vei En Rose. The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese is the story of Howard Hughes (played brilliantly by Leonardo DiCaprio). The movie gives us a heart wrenching glimpse into the madness of this legendary aviation giant who, despite his private anguish, was able to achieve greatness. We witness how his phobias and obsessive behavior drove him into seclusion. Le Vei En Rose is the story of Edith Piaf (portrayed with perfection by the beautiful and talented Marion Cotillard), the French singer whose reputation, before the movie, was that of a drug addicted, abusive tyrant. The movie explains how, as a small, very frail child, she was frequently abandon, used and abused bringing understanding and compassion to this incredibly talented, deeply spiritual but tortured woman. Both of these movies are VERY long but you are upset when they end. They are captivating. You can't take your eyes of the screen.
Are these stories more compelling then the Earhart story? I don't really think so. They were simply better written and better directed.