by RB Capuz

Created on: March 04, 2010

I’ve been on a movie spree as of late. After watching Sandra Bullock as a “blonde” upper class woman with a soft heart in The Blind Side and Morgan Freeman’s take on Nelson Mandela in Invictus, I set my eyes on Hilary Swank’s portrayal of yet another historical and popular icon Amelia Earhart in Amelia.

Perhaps no other actress could make Earhart come to life on the silverscreen as much as Swank: she looks the part and plays the part so well (although some film critics would say otherwise). You couldn’t help but think that she is really the aviatrix that disappeared in 1937. This only shows that Swank is a very versatile actress who can take just about any role. The performance of actors Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor, while not outstanding, are  quite believable to say the least (with Gere as George P. Putnam and McGregor as Gene Vidal).

But despite the big names, this movie has failed to wow the critics. I’m not really familiar with Mira Nair, the film’s director. The Indian filmmaker has been making Hollywood movies for quite a while (like the Namesake and Vanity Fair), but the only Nair-directed movie I was able to watch prior to Amelia was Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. A Bollywood director, Nair’s flair for cinematography (replete with black and white scene transitions) stands out. But in some scenes, we just couldn’t fathom just where the movie is headed to. Historical inconsistencies have plagued the said film right from the start (that's according to some film reviews, although a regular moviegoer wouldn’t have figured this out as much).

This leads us back to the movie’s titular character, Amelia Earhart. Much has been said about her disappearance and much has been said about her life. We know from history that the aviatrix was a headstrong and independent woman. She was known the world over as the proponent of women pilots during her time. But some historians and biographers believe that had she not married Putnam—a known author, biographer and publicist during the period—she wouldn’t have had international fame (as there are other female pilots before and during her time who are arguably more skilled). So I guess it’s safe to say her husband made her the icon we know today.

Perhaps this is the only time that we get to see Amelia Earhart as an individual and not simply the woman

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