Amelia

Right, so before any of you say anything, no, it's not Amélie and its not by the French.

Amelia is the story of Amelia Earhart, one of the most influential female pilots ever to walk the surface of our beloved earth. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic and the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo.

I had trouble placing this film in my mind, which was torn when I was watching it. There was something about it that just made me want to leave, yet there was a lot to keep my eyes glued to the screen. It was one of those bittersweet moments in life where you are not entirely sure how or what to feel.

Looking at the cast on paper, I am surprised to realise in hindsight that I was bored for most of the film. Hilary Swank accompanied by Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor, who often seems to creep up in the films I see recently, should be more than enough to make my seat have hands all of a sudden. Hands that pin me down and slap me around every time I seem to lose focus. Yet this was not the case. Swank played a solid role. In fact, many times during Amelia, I was thinking to myself how good she was. I have seen her in Million Dollar Baby and P.S. I Love You, but somehow, as good as Million Dollar Baby was, I was more impressed with here in this.

At this point I can't stop pondering about what the sweet part in the bittersweet was. Why do I still struggle putting the film behind me and stop thinking about it. Normally, when I see a good role in a mediocre (read: rubbish) film, I think to myself: "what a waste of talent, C'mon son!!! get your crap together" and go back to feeding Mars bars to pelicans. This time, I cant.

The film talks about a soul that wishes to roam free. Take the silver bird and fly it into the sunset for as long as it will carry her. With everything else out of her mind but her destination. It is a swansong to the roaming hearts that feel imprisonment where there is comfort, struggle where there is safety. The trouble with these hearts often is though, that they forget where their home is. I live by "home is where the heart is" so I guess for Miss Earhart, home was in the cockpit of the silver bird. And who am I to judge such a heart? My question though, is what happens when you lose sight of your home... and your destination?