LM23 Rating: I hate not liking films with actors I love in them…
Despite the bad reviews, I still went ahead to see Amsterdam. Despite road closures due to a marathon, I found an alternative route as I was determined to continue checking off my fall/winter movie list. It’s been a while since I’ve felt sleepy in a movie. I’m sorry to say despite being a fan of the stars in the film (Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, and so on), I struggled to stay awake.
A strong start before the boredom kicks in
The movie got off to a solid start. It’s 1933 and Elizabeth Meekins (Taylor Swift) has asked doctor Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) to perform an autopsy on her father. Her father holds a special meaning for Berendsen and his best friend, lawyer, and fellow vet, Harold (John David Washington). Her father was the leader of the regiment that Berendsen and Harold were part of and deeply respect him.
Elizabeth suspects foul play as her father was in good health and she wants Berendsen to perform the autopsy before he is to be embalmed. Dr. Berendsen gets to work with the help of Irma St. Clair (Zoe Saldana) who works as a city mortician. She has proudly performed many autopsies or at least twice a month.
The autopsy scene was one of the highlights of the movie of which there are not that many. We get to see the old man’s body torn apart as Irma and Berendsen look for abnormal signs of death. Strange liquid found in his stomach area seems to be a good sign that Elizabeth’s suspicions were correct.
Berendsen and Harold go to a restaurant to meet with Elizabeth as she had instructed. But find that she is leaving just as they had arrived. Something seems to have spooked Elizabeth who now wants to avoid Berendsent and Harold like the plague. She claims there are people after her, the same people who killed her father and she can’t be seen with them. As she’s in tears and hysterics, a man appears from the crowd on the sidewalk and shoves Elizabeth into an oncoming car. And that is the end of the excitement in Amsterdam.
Where are we going with Amsterdam?
With the political state we’re in, we’re sure to have more art produced that reflects our reality that our democracies are under attack. They’re under attack by powerful greedy elites who don’t care about anyone but themselves and their bottom lines. And they only care for the little people when it boosts their influence.
It took nearly two hours to get to the point of Amsterdam, but that was the point. And sadly, a lot of the point of the movie was done by telling and not showing. There’s a lot of voice overs during the film and it was fine at the start. But after a while, you get the sense that the movie only moves because someone is telling us what’s happening. So many things happen because someone tells it or it’s done in a few quick flashbacks.
Elizabeth getting run over was the only scene that made me care to know more of what was happening. Even when Berendsen was shot, I didn’t flinch with fear that he was mortally wounded (he wasn’t). At that point I was like, alright, we’re going to figure out what the heck this movie is about.
Drop the satires and allegories, be bold about the truth of democracy today
Rather than satire or hiding behind an allegory of the past, I think it’s time for filmmakers like David O. Russell to be bold and make a film about the degradation and dissolving of our democracy set in today’s time.
There’s not much more to say about Amsterdam. It tries a bit too hard to be quirky with the girl who likes to make morbid art pieces and the guy with the glass eye. Was it just me or Christian Bale was giving off Barton Fink vibes? I wonder if Amsterdam would have worked better as a play. There’s so much talking and talking and no action that a play format may have been more conducive to its structure.
Skip Amsterdam (the movie).
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