The Aviator

Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator is an Academy Award-winning biographical drama from 2004. The film is largely based on Richard Hack’s book “Hughes” and tells the story of peculiar aviation pioneer and man-about-town Howard Hughes. The film follows Hughes’ life from the late 1920s through until the 1940s, shedding light on a time in which Hughes was directing and producing films as well as building groundbreaking aircraft. The Aviator also touches on Hughes’ battles with reclusiveness and obsessive compulsive behaviour.

The Aviator is an epic film from Scorsese and boldly delves into the larger than life legendary figure of Howard Hughes with impeccable direction and flawless performances. The film was nominated for a pile of Oscars, including Best Picture (which it lost to the disappointing Million Dollar Baby), Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Sound. The Aviator picked up Oscars for Best Supporting Actress (for the wonderful performance from the always stellar Cate Blanchett), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design. In my view, The Aviator deserved a lot more than this, as its direction was far more challenging and compelling than Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby and its star, Leonardo DiCaprio, was more engaging the Jamie Foxx’s impersonation of Ray Charles. Nonetheless, I’m not bitter……much.

The Aviator tells the story of Howard Hughes (DiCaprio), who was orphaned at age 17. He was the son of a Texas inventor, who left him most of his multi-million dollar tool company upon his death. Hughes became a movie producer and helped struggling actors launch their careers. The film covers the problematic production of Hughes’ film Hell’s Angels, as the 22-year-old Hughes hires Noah Dietrich (John C. Reilly) to handle his tool company and handle his business. From there, Hughes goes on to produce other films and delves into electronics and aviation. He dedicates much of his time to aviation after dabbling in film production and turning out a pair of films that were problematic in terms of the censorship board. Hughes’ films Scarface and The Outlaw both take a backseat to his love of aviation and women as he continues his ascent into the skies of flight.

Hughes’ fame grows and he becomes seen with various starlets, including Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani), Katherine Hepburn (Blanchett), and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). As he challenges the business of flying, Hughes develops an interest in commercial airlines and tries to improve the safety of flying. He also breaks the speed record and flies around the world. Hughes is on top of the world, but his bouts with obsessive compulsive disorder are often getting the better of him. To add to the tension, his competitor, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) of Pan-Am Airlines, is breathing down his neck and threatening to expose Hughes’ dealings during the war effort through the use of a senator (Alan Alda) that Trippe has in his pocket. The tension becomes too much for Hughes to take and he becomes a recluse until a court hearing draws him back out into the public eye.

The Aviator successfully balances these various areas of Hughes’ complicated life with style and a humane touch. The film is a tightrope act of adventurous sequences involving flight, which are beautifully shot, and the personal battles within Howard Hughes, which are brilliantly acted by the impeccable Leonardo DiCaprio. The Aviator may seem out of type of someone like Scorsese, but he creates a masterwork here with visuals and colours, choosing to shoot the first 50-minutes of the film with shades of red and cyan blue to emulate the look of early two-colour films. As Hughes himself owned the “Multicolour” process, this treatment is especially enticing. For the rest of the film, Scorsese treated his film to emulate the saturated three-colour look of early Technicolor films. Certain other colourized effects were added in throughout the film, including newsreel footage that needed to be treated.

DiCaprio is great at capturing Hughes. Hughes’ suffering is intelligently portrayed by the gifted actor, as Hughes knows what is wrong with him and senses his own shame creeping up on him like a shadowy figure, yet DiCaprio resists the urge to play it over the top and as though Hughes was oblivious to his problems. Instead, DiCaprio embraces the insanity in the way that any sane person clinging to the edge would and he plays scenes with clarity and dignity, despite the fact that other performances would have driven the apple cart over the cliff. DiCaprio understands the character well, it seems, and knows that to play a man with millions of dollars with such suffering tendencies is a balancing act worthy of a circus performer. One touch too far in one direction could spoil the process and DiCaprio’s smart portrayal of Howard Hughes reflects this awareness in every single scene. It’s marvellous.

The other performances are impeccable as well, including John C. Reilly as Hughes’ long suffering assistant and Alan Alda as the pushy senator. But it’s Cate Blanchett that steals the show in terms of the supporting cast, invoking Katherine Hepburn flawlessly. Blanchett is likely the boldest and bravest of all modern actresses, pouring herself into each role with such grace and class, yet never fearing the results of taking risks. Blanchett’s Hepburn is great. Beckinsale is also good as Ava Gardner, the protective but defensive woman of Hughes’ dreams.

The Aviator was overlooked at Oscar time. I know, it was nominated for a pile of awards, but it was by far the superior film of the year and held all the pieces right in place. The Aviator is a superbly directed, wonderfully acted, and beautifully shot piece of film. It has a sure sense of Hollywood in the times and celebrates the ideology of finding excitement, which is a Scorsese idea, in terms of period pieces, to the core. Scorsese’s masterful capture recreates the glamour that the gifted director heard about when he was growing up and captures the imagination of the audience with all the sizzle and style of Hollywood high life and Hollywood lowlifes. An excellent and obnoxious turn by Jude Law as Errol Flynn unravels this point.

The Aviator is a great film. I was not all that interested in the subject before seeing this film, but it had collected dust for a while on my shelf, so I had to give it a look. I discovered, through Scorsese’s eyes, a passion for characters like Howard Hughes and an invitation to explore some of the more compelling narratives of Hollywood’s golden age. This is a journey and a half, an epic tale filled with wonderment and troubling trips down the dark corners of the soul. It is a tale of darkness and excess, too, and how madness can be overcome to create something grand.

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