Amelia

There have been some historical figures that I know of through reputation only and I don't know all that much about their lives. Amelia Earhart is one such person. It seems if you wait long enough a film will be made about them.

Fox's release of this film in Australia has been very poor. With the cast it has and an Oscar bait performance by Hilary Swank I expected it to get a bigger release. Not that the film is worth it but they have given a better chance to less worthy films. For me the film is not cinematic enough. The story is not told with the big screen in mind. It was more suited to a TV movie rather than a big screen film. The makers seem more concerned with telling the events of Amelia's life rather than giving any time to telling us why Amelia is doing what she is doing. I've not said this many times but this film needed to be longer. I'd have liked to see more of Amelia's life as a girl and young woman and what led her to want to become a pilot. There is a terrible part of the film where they show Amelia as a young girl in a field watching a plane fly over and her saying she wants to do that. Is that it? Didn't she have to struggle in some way to convince people she could be a pilot? Being a woman at that time was not easy. How could she afford it? From what I understand, even today, learning to fly is an expensive operation. Were her parents rich? Did she get a job to afford flying lessons? None of this is explained and would have given us more to work with as far as understanding who Amelia is. I will say that the scene when she disappears was quite thrilling and a wonderfully directed moment. Mira Nair is a director known for making strong, thoughtful films. I'd like to know if the film is this way because of her or studio interference.

Hilary Swank is a brilliant actress and that is evidenced here. Despite the fact she is not given very much to work with, Hilary is able to give a good performance. Imagine what it could have been like if she had a better script to work with. This cannot be said of Richard Gere. He is pretty mediocre. He could have been better with better material to work with. The less said about Ewan McGregor the better.

For a woman who is held in such high regard in history, it is disappointing that she is given such a cursory telling of her story on film. With the reputation of the talent involved you expect a much better film and what we got was mediocre.