The new biopic Amelia stars two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as the aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. Often remembered more for her mysterious disappearance than her aerial accomplishments, the new movie tries to steer focus back to her highly publicized, if short lived career as a professional female pilot. Only eight years after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote, Earhart burst onto the public radar in 1928 by being the first women to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming an instant celebrity. Just nine years later, on July 2, 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, giving birth to several theories and myths regarding her death.
Directed by Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) Amelia is a visual feast, as expected by a director that seems to delight in filming rich colors and textures—the only thing Vanity Fair had going for it was the exquisite Indian-influenced production design, while Monsoon Wedding, a personal favorite, burst with it’s saturated color choices. What impressed me the most was the aerial footage, vast and luscious and beautifully shot, they transported the audience and inviting us to experience the wonder and infatuation Earhart must have felt while in the cockpit.
Watching the film, you GET why Earhart risked her life and spent a fortune financing her voyages. At a time when women were barely able to work outside of the home, she was sailing through the sky (phenomenon that is viewed more as a tedious hassle by modern day travelers, than the improbable feat it actually is) and accomplishing feats that only a few men had successfully done before her.
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