This Should Have Stayed Grounded

As a kid, I was fascinated by stories of aviation pioneers like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. I remember a book that my parents gave me then that told of how both crossed the Atlantic Ocean individually on their planes, making them heroes worldwide. The tragedy of Earhart’s disappearance as she attempted to circumnavigate the world has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories and innuendo for over 70 years, I guess I was just waiting for a movie about her life until that point. Thus I was one of the few who actually wanted to watch director Mira Nair’s Amelia.

Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) had long dreamed of flight and she was determined to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Through the efforts of George Putnam (Richard Gere), she does so, along with setting several other flying records. Putnam and Earhart fall in love and marry, but she also begins an affair with Federal aviation administrator Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). When she does break off the relationship with Vidal and returns to Putnam, Earhart is determined to set the greatest aviation feat of all: circumnavigating the world. Hiring renowned navigator Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston), Earhart tells her husband that she wants to retire from flying after this is done. However, a series of events happen that results in tragedy for Earhart and Noonan.

I’m usually a sucker for these period pieces and biographical films about famous people, so Amelia was something I looked forward to. Based on the books East of the Dawn by Susan Butler and The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell, the film paints a picture of an Amelia Earhart who was initially allowed to fly as nothing more than a publicity stunt. When she first earns fame, she used it to push for more power for female pilots and more representation for women. However, director Nair doesn’t make Earhart a saint, showing her brazen affair with Vidal.

The problem I found with this film is that it was just too damn slow. Even though Swank looks just like Earhart, the plot just seemed to be stuck in quicksand at times. Although Gere and McGregor try to make the most of what’s been given them, it just lacks enough of a punch to make Earhart’s life more compelling. There are times that it seems the actors just can’t generate the energy to make the film livelier. For a film about a woman that set so many records and accomplished so many new and exciting things in her time, Nair somehow finds a way to take the fun out of Earhart’s story.

The life and mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart has been and will continue to be the subject of much speculation and hypothesis for many years to come. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can call Amelia as a good film to refer to when citing a source for those theories in the future.