I confess that ‘Amsterdam‘, the 2022 film by David O. Russell, confused me. The American director, who also writes his scripts, has made several films that I really liked for their stylistic consistency, for the topics related to the American present or the past with repercussions in the present, and for the way he directs his actors in performing memorable roles. ‘Amsterdam‘, filmed during the pandemic and released towards its end, seems to be trying to inaugurate a new direction in his creation, somewhat similar to the fantastically nuanced visual allegories of Wes Anderson. The cast is impressive – a collection of stars and interesting actors – and the cinematography belongs to Emmanuel Lubezki, winner of three consecutive Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography in 2014-2016. And yet something didn’t work, and that was felt by the viewers who didn’t rush to buy tickets and by the critics who mostly buried the film. I’m not sure what the reason was. Maybe Russell didn’t go far enough, stopping somewhere in the middle between a story that ‘almost happened’ and a mostly cinematic fantasy, or maybe it’s the too insistent attempt to draw contemporary conclusions (‘history lessons’) between the event on which the story is based and contemporary political events.
The story is set in 1933, with flashbacks to the years after the end of World War I. Burt is a young New York doctor who is sent by his wife and her wealthy family to fight (for honor!) on the front. He is wounded, disfigured and loses an eye in the fighting, being saved, together with his friend Harold, a black young man, by the beautiful nurse Valerie. Harold and Valerie fall in love and the three of them live a period of idyll in Amsterdam, which becomes the landmark of their friendship and a happy youth. Years later in New York. Valerie disappeared, Harold became a well-known lawyer, Burt separated from his wife and wealthy family and dedicated his career to caring for the wounded and maimed by war. When the two friends are implicated in the deaths of the general who commanded them on the battlefield and of his daughter, the investigation takes them into the circles of American high society and to the revelation of a fascist coup plot. Will the ties between the three be restored? Will they manage together to thwart the plans that threatened American democracy following the model of the rise of fascism in Europe of those years?
The script is inspired by true events, more precisely from a political conspiracy called The Business Plot that took place in 1933 and was thwarted largely because one of its leaders, a veteran general, decided to reveal it to the authorities and the public. The role of the character inspired by this historical figure is played by Robert De Niro and the scene of his speech at the veterans’ reunion is very well constructed, probably inspired by the famous speech scene in Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’. What did I like most about the film? The cinematography and the costumes – stylized and expressive. The individual effort of most of the actors, whether it’s the lead roles of Christian Bale (a kind of homage to Peter Falk’s Columbo character) and Margot Robbie, or supporting roles like those played by Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldaña or Mike Myers (I haven’t seen him in a long time!). What did I like less? The interpretation of JJohn David Washington – the son of … but much less inspired, at least here. The style of narration. In my opinion, a dynamic production, combining action and comedy, would have been more appropriate here. At the very climax (and this is about 30 minutes before the end) the narrative freezes and is replaced by a kind of voice-over narration that explains to us what is happening and the conclusions we must draw. Is it some reference to the consumption of substances that the heroes resort to heavily after the traumas of war? Anyway, I found it rhetorical, unnecessary, un-cinematic. Too bad, because ‘Amsterdam‘ had the chance and the premises to be a real success. Let’s see what will come next in the career of director David O. Russell.