Movie Review: Amelia

By FOX43tv.com's Film Reviewer, Stephanie Cooke

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My feet were barely touching the ground as I walked into the theatre to see Amelia .  I love history and the story of Amelia Earhart has always intrigued me as it has so many others.  So the thought that her story had made its way to the big screen and that HIlary Swank was in the leading roll, meant that I was cleared for take off.

Amelia is a biopic in every sense of the word.  The movie chronicles the milestones - personally and professionally - of the First Lady of Flight.  If you didn't know, Earhart married publisher George Putnam (RIchard Gere) but exercised her feminist tendencies at the wedding, insisting the preacher remove the word OBEY from the vows.  Apparently, she also insisted to Putnam early on that there should be no feeling that they should be monogomous.  We learn that Earhart had an affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) who led the Ministry of Aviation and was the father of Gore Vidal.  It seems that he very well could have gotten that post due in large part to his relationship with Amelia.   

While all of the personal stuff is going on in the movie, there's also the business of the history Earhart made.  She makes believers out of women everywhere, that women could not only chart, but fly a plane.  Every female pilot today owes a great deal to Earhart.  She encouraged young female fliers -- even creating organizations and events for them to show their stuff and raise support for women fliers.

There were two things about the movie that I just loved.  First, Director Mira Nair brilliantly interlaced historical footage with the filmed footage.  She would begin to taxi in the grainy real black and white film, and then dissolve to the full color version with painstaking detail to exactly match the shot.  Second, the aerial cinematography was brilliant.  As Amelia soars over some of the most beautiful places on earth, the audience can relate to her and fly with her -- understanding why she loved to fly so much.

And that's pretty much where my understanding of the film ended.  Most of the scenes were choppy -- too short for you to make heads or tails of what the scene was supposed to deliver.  The chemistry between Gere and Swank was iffy at best.  I never once surrendered to their characters and their circumstances.  The kisses were awkward and even the looks at each other, never quite seemed like they were seeing each other.  The brief love scene between McGregor and Swank seemed forced as well. 

The thing I hate about a biopic is that I usually know the ending.  Of course we know Amelia Earhart was lost at sea after over shooting her refueling station.  There were a few things more to learn about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and that made it interesting in the last few scenes.  Her last transmissions were painstakingly correct (They could hear her, she coudn't hear them.)  So even though I knew the ending, I didn't know how it would end. Sadly, there were quite a few times during the movie that I looked at my watch wondering if it would ever end.