The Aviator (2004)

Howard Hughes. One of the most interesting characters in both entertainment and aviation industry. A genius inventor hampered by a mental condition. His biography was supposed to be originally directed by Michael Mann, but eventually it was Martin Scorsese who made it.

The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes and Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, chronicles his life from 1927 to 1947. “The Aviator” concentrates on his work as an aviation and film businessman, his inventing talents and his celebrity status. Also, a huge feature is his mental downfall, here blamed mostly on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (rather than paranoid schizophrenia or even brain damage due to his aviation accidents). Many great actors appear in the movie, most notably Alec Baldwin (Juan Trippe, the owner of Pan Am Airways), Kate Beckinsale (Ava Gardner), Alan Alda (Senator Brewster), Ian Holm (Professor Fitz), Gwen Stefani (Jean Harlow) and also cameos from Willem Dafoe (Roland Sweet) and Jude Law (Erroll Flynn).

DiCaprio’s turn as Howard Hughes is possibly the best performance of his career. He spent time with friends of Hughes and with an OCD patient, from whom he took some behavior. It’s a tour de force performance, especially when his mental breakdown is depicted. Some of the most touching material is when he repeats a phrase many times and at a certain moment he is aware of it, but his agitation only adds to it, so finally he has to shut his face with his hands to stop talking. This is definitely a proof that his talents go way beyond the handsome boy that he was in Titanic and for a few years afterwards. It is since Aviator that DiCaprio has been in a very good form and all his acting is just brilliant. Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for her performance as Hepburn. She learnt the legendary actress’s mannerisms and accent and she manages to steal some scenes with her first a bit comic, then very serious performance. Ian Holm is plain brilliant in his comedic part of a meteorologist who is once even presented as a mathematician who tries to prove that the cleavage presented in Hughes’ The Outlaw doesn’t go beyond limits barred by the legendary Hays’ Code. Alda, Baldwin, Dafoe and Law are as good as always.

Scorsese is in top form here. He has been a director who always looked for original ways to stage a scene and it always helped the story. This time his flair shows in the editing (kudos goes also to his friend Thelma Schoonmaker), the use of light to present Hughes’ mental state (a particularly disturbing and emotional moment where Hughes secludes himself in a room, naked, is just bathed in red). The movie doesn’t maybe push any technological standards (I don’t think that Scorsese even ever aimed at that, in that way he is and never was Steven Spielberg or James Cameron), but does go lengths to brutally and consequently show the complexity of the character. Scenes of Hughes being photographed and overly lit are done very violently and convincingly. Also, the only action scene in the movie which is a depiction of a real crash suffered by the man, is a very intense and dramatic one. Great camera work, huge realism showing that if he wanted to, Scorsese could do insanely well as an action director. It may be way better than any plane crash depicted on screen I’ve seen in my life.

Robert Richardson’s cinematography is just brilliant. Scorsese originally wanted to present the movie in an aspect ration from the era, but after learning that modern cinemas wouldn’t take it, he settled for coloring it in a way that would be typical for the films of the decades depicted. From a very naive and unreal coloring (notice the grass in the scene where Hepburn plays golf with Howard) to something much stronger and more realistic. It’s a very neat move. The light is used great with some brilliant chiaroscuro (the opening scene in particular). Richardson has always been a master of his game and it’s his third movie for Scorsese (the first and second being respectively, “Casino” and “Bringing Out the Dead”). The lighting, the camera setups are all very good.

Martin Scorsese has always been a master of music usage. Period songs, what not. In this case he also has a good original orchestral score by Howard Shore (which is his second movie with the director since Gangs of New York). Shore’s work is a dark twist on baroque music, which is supposed to give a sense of nostalgic grandeur and a sense of power, which Hughes definitely feels when flying (thanks Richard!). Aside from the score, we also have an always brilliant use of period music, very careful and meaningful. Using songs in movies is something highly popular today and people should learn from Scorsese. He even goes as far (and doing it better than anyone today) as to use meaningful lyrics to help propel the story. Music is always supposed to add something to a movie. This director manages to do it also through a careful choice of songs with useful lyrics.

“The Aviator” is a very good movie. With a length a tad under three hours, it does feel overlong at times, which is the only downside of it. Brilliant, captivating performances, good writing (Michael Mann had a hand in the script, which was revealed by DiCaprio at the Golden Globes ceremony), beautiful editing and cinematography and honesty in depiction of the subject matter. Martin Scorsese never pulled any stops there. Be it violence (and, even if the movie was rated PG-13 – a rarity for the director, the crash scene does feature some of his naturalistic sensibilities when it comes to blood), psychological issues (Hughes’s OCD or Joe Pesci’s psychopathy in both Goodfellas and Casino), he is always very honest and even brutal in showing the consequences. As a case study of a genius with heavy mental problems, “The Aviator” is definitely recommended.

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