Title: Amsterdam
Rating: 2 Stars
I’ll talk about the film Amsterdam but I’m actually more interested in the historical events that inspired the film.
Amsterdam came out in 2022. I’m surprised that I totally overlooked it. After all, it was written and directed by David O Russell. Despite his occasional abusive treatment of actors (eg nearly got in a fight with George Clooney), he has made such notable films as Three Kings, The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Hustle.
The film is loaded with star power. Just check out this list of actors: Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Rami Malek, Ed Begley Jr, and Robert De Niro. Hell, Taylor Swift even has a small part. It’s kind of insane.
Dr Burt Berendson (Bale) and a lawyer named Harold Woodman (Washington) meet in France during World War I. They become friends and are both seriously wounded in battle. Nursed back to health by Valerie Bandenberg (Robbie), the three become fast friends and Harold and Valerie become lovers.
After living in Amsterdam, eventually Burt and Harold decide to head back to the states. Many years later, at the behest of his daughter (Swift), they are asked to investigate the mysterious death of a general (Begley). As they report to his daughter that the general was poisoned, she is pushed in front of a car by an assassin (Olyphant).
Wrongly suspected of her death, Burt and Harold are on the run and seek to clear their names. In so doing, they discover a plot by a group of businessmen to bribe a beloved general (De Niro) to give a speech and to lead his former soldiers into a coup against Roosevelt. The general has no desire to be the front man for this group of businessmen. Burt, Harold, Valerie, and the general must all work together to thwart the plot. Will they keep America from falling into fascism?
The film should have been right up my alley. It’s based upon a real historical event (more on that below). It’s chock full of high quality actors. It’s a period piece set in the 1930s, always an interesting time.
For me, it all just added up to meh. It’s as if the film couldn’t decide whether to focus on the three way friendship of Burt, Harold, and Valerie or the plot of the businessmen. In either case, I didn’t feel particularly invested in either plot line.
The actors seemed to be lost. I’m not sure what Christian Bale was doing with his role other than some semi-stereotypical Jewish doctor. Similarly John David Washington was at best stolid as Harold. Robert De Niro didn’t bring anything special to the role of the general. Michael Shannon and Mike Myers were somewhat amusing as American and British spies. Taylor Swift seemed to be stunt casting. Even Anya Taylor-Joy, who I have enjoyed in pretty much everything, seemed to be grasping at the role of a businessman’s wife with the hots for the general.
The exception is Margot Robbie. I’m not exactly sure what a movie star presence is, but whatever it is, she has it. She lights up whatever role that she’s given, be it Barbie or Babylon or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or Harley Quinn in any of those films. Here she brings the character of Valerie to life.
Other than Robbie, there simply wasn’t enough to recommend this film.
What about the historical event that it was based upon?
In 1932, there were businessmen that were aghast at the policies of Franklin Roosevelt. They earnestly believed that providing aid to the hungry and the unemployed was somehow going to be the gateway drug to socialism.
They were willing to put up money to effectively overthrow FDR and install a puppet fascist dictator that they would actually control. Among the people involved in the plot were allegedly a former presidential candidate, a JP Morgan partner, an heir to the Singer corporation, and oddly enough, Prescott Bush (yes, that would be George HW Bush’s father and George W Bush’s grandfather).
How were they going to find this dictator? Well, they decided that the best way would be to find a very popular retired general. This general would read a speech (written by themselves, of course) that would be a call to action. He would encourage his army of supporters to march onto Washington. There, this army would push FDR aside and the general would be installed as Secretary of General Affairs.
The general that they decided to approach was Smedley Butler. On the one hand, it seemed to be a brilliant choice. After all, he was a bona fide army hero. He fought in numerous engagements and won not one but two Medals of Honor. Earlier, he had been part of the Bonus Army that had marched on Washington DC.
On the other hand, it was a horrible idea. First of all, he was a Democrat who supported FDR. Not only that, but in his post military life, he’d turned against the forces of capitalism. He believed that his military activities were not in the interest of the American people but in the interest of American business. In fact, he wrote a book called War is a Racket (which I wrote about here). He called himself a ‘racketeer for capitalism’.
When approached, Butler played along for a while and then testified in front of a congressional committee. As expected, this caused quite a stir. Despite that, no one was arrested or prosecuted. After all, these were rich people.
I find it interesting that this, the story of how a group of elite businessmen tried to overthrow our democratically elected government, is not more well known. If anything, this tells us that we should be vigilant not only to external threats but to internal ones as well.
dorkenstein 