Mira “The Namesake” Nair directs – with sweeping elegance – this old-fashioned movie from high above, though we’d prefer if she spent more time on the ground. Hilary Swank was born to play the role of Katherine Hepburn-esque Amelia Earhart in trousers and cropped hair, but we never learn much about the grounded part of this queen of the skies. And such a shame as we really want this movie to work on so many levels. Hollywood is anemic in the bio-pic dept., and this may have crash-landed the future of such films. Not to mention leading lady films in general. The essence of women’s empowerment in the 1920s and 30s, Earhart rivaled Charles Lindbergh (thus her nickname “Lady Lindy”) but like an airplane herself, she is only temporarily on the runway before taking off again both emotionally and physically. We never learn what fuels her (or her planes) and despite constant fan-fair and triumph worldwide, we never learn how she earned it. Where is the blood, sweat and tears? And where/how does she stop (midway over the Atlantic) to use a ladies room? Her lover and husband George Putnam (Richard Gere) takes a sedate backseat to her necessary antics “I must fly!” But it’s her lover, Gene Vidal (son of Gore Vidal) played by Ewan McGregor who slows the movie’s pace down just a bit for us to understand a bit of Amelia the woman. The movies is gorgeously shot, but untimately has a lot of air traffic controls problems at its heart (as it were.) Two tiaras
