One of the problems with the study of history is that it can get rather dry when you limited yourself to the printed page. Movies on the other hand, can really help to bring historical characters to life, offering a glimpse into the lives of those figures that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see, even though films often times take a bit of liberty with the facts for the sake of a more interesting film. Such is the case with the film that is the subject of today’s film, Amelia, which gives us a glimpse into the life of the famous aviator, that one may not have been able to appreciate from the pages of history.

Film  

I am sure that most of you are familiar with the uplifting and eventually tragic story of Amelia Earhart, the first women to fly solo over the Atlantic and a pioneer in the world of women’s aviation, who met her demise in 1937 over the Pacific, while attempting to become to first person to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane.

The film stars Hilary Swank as Amelia and Richard Gere as her business manager and eventual husband, George Putnam. The film starts out with Amelia on the last leg of her faithful journey and then in a series of flashbacks, tells her story, from her love of flying as a child, to her first flight across the Atlantic, fight for women’s rights, and status as a role model for other women. It also documents Amelia’s role as a pitchwoman to make the money necessary to continue her flying, her role in the launch of the first commercial air shuttle between New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C, that helped usher in the role of regular air travel in the US as well as her personal life with her husband an eventually an affair with Gene Vidal, one of her partners in the shuttle endeavor.

What would a movie like this be like without a bit of a love story thrown in right? While I was aware of Amelia Earhart’s accomplishments, this films helps to put a little meat on the bones of her story, provides us, with a bit more of a glimpse into what she was really like as a person and as an aviation pioneer, beyond what one can glean from the printed page.

It is this regard that I really enjoyed the film, even though the ultimate ending of the film was known from the beginning. Amelia features fine performances from the three leads, including Ewan McGregor as Gene Vidal. With this cast, one would expect nothing less. I enjoyed this film and hope you will as well. Recommended.

Video  

I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the video on Amelia. My biggest complaint is in the level of sharpness and detail. The entire film has a soft look to it, lacking the clarity and depth that I have come to really appreciate with the Blu-ray format. While this is not the fault of the encode but a stylistic choice on the pat of the director, I would have nonetheless preferred an image with greater clarity and depth.

The color palette, while certainly appealing visually, is a bit on the warm side, with ruddy complexions the rule rather than the exception and with many exterior shots, bathed in a rather warm golden sunlight. Blacks, while stable, are far from inky but more than respectable. In addition to the level of clarity, I also thought the level of fine detail to be a bit below the best looking films, with facial detail lacking, with faces looking smoothed over a bit but without any real evidence of digital noise reduction.

The lack of detail is the result of the overall softness of the photography rather than the result of the application of the dreaded DNR as film grain looks well preserved. While I enjoyed the overall look of the film in terms of the color choices used, I would have preferred a film with better clarity and overall detail and three dimensionality than what is provided on this release.

Audio 

While I was a bit disappointed with the video I was more than pleased with the audio. What is evident from the very opening of the film is the excellent fidelity of the sound which is true for the entire film. The sound is smooth, rich and open with excellent transparency and imaging, without even a hint of shrillness or hardness to the sound.

While I would not say that the film sports a totally immersive sound design, the surrounds are used more often and more aggressively that I had imagined they would, especially during the various flying sequences. In particular, the night time flying sequence though a thunder storm was particularly effective, with the sound of thunder and the swirling of winds rendered in a very realistic manner. These “action” sequences featured excellent overall dynamics and excellent bass response. The same can be said for the musical score, especially the one live big band sequence in a club which sounded fantastic. The dialogue track was also well recorded and features excellent overall fidelity as well and was well placed in the mix. In short, I was more than pleased with the sound on this release.

Special Features 

While the extras included with Amelia are rather standard faire, I found most to be interesting and informative. I must say that my favorite extra is the Movietone news reel footage from the 20′s and 30′s, featuring actual footage of the real Amelia Earhart. Back in the day before TV, the only way to “see” the news and the news makers of the day was through these news reels shown before films at the local theater, much in the way trailers are today. Looking and hearing the real Amelia Earhart, I must say that Hilary Swank really got it right with her performance, capturing the look and sound of the real thing.

In addition to the Movietone news reel footage, the extras also include several deleted scenes and a making of featurette entitled Making Amelia featuring interviews with the director, Mira Nair, Hilary Swank, Richard Gere and other memebers of the cast and crew. Also included is the feaaturette The Power of Amelia Earhart where members of the cast and crew discuss the historical significance of Amelia Earhart and what she means to them.

Also included is a short featurette “The Plane Behind the Legend” which details how a real Lockheed Electra from 1941 was flown from Europe to Africa and used in the film and features an interview with the owner of the aircraft, which is in its original condition and kept in perfect working order. Rather than use CGI to recreate the look of the plane Amelia was flying at the time of her disappearance, it was felt that live aerial footage would look better and it sure did. What a great looking plane!

The final extra is another featurette entitled “Re-Constructing the Planes of Amelia” which details how the mock-ups for the other aircraft in Amelia were constructed. The release also includes a digital copy of the film that is compatible with Macs and PCs.

Final Thoughts 

While Amelia fell a bit short of what I was expecting in terms of picture quality, it is a well written, directed, acted and very engaging film that most audiences should find appealing and is recommended.