Howard Hughes is a man largely remembered for his eccentricities and professional failings rather than his numerous accomplishments. Yet even when Hughes sealed himself off from the world in an obsessive-compulsive fervor during the last years of his life, his fortune and influence were never greater. Martin Scorsese's \The Aviator"" is a look at what constituted the man who had a profound influence on both aviation and the motion picture industry. It also provides insight as to how Hughes' mental debilitations slowly took hold of his life.
""The Aviator"" succeeds because it is a movie about obsession. Howard Hughes was a man who obsessed about everything in his life, demanding perfection from those around him as well as himself. One scene shows Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) embracing. Hughes' hand slowly runs along her back, sliding toward her hair. The scene then has a clever cut to a shot of Hughes running his hand along the exterior of an airplane, his eyes keenly focused on the rivets he is inspecting.
It is this comparison that personifies Martin Scorsese's vision of Howard Hughes-he was a man who put all of his passion into anything he was doing, whether it was planes, women or films. Sadly, this same principle of obsession led Hughes to eventual seclusion from the world, as he literally enclosed himself into projection rooms where he felt he could fight off germs and disease.
Given Scorsese's history, it is not hard to see why his treatment of Howard Hughes is so deeply personal and sympathetic. As a child, Hughes was stricken with illnesses and largely confined to his own home. Scorsese had much the same experience. He was saddled with asthma as a child and spent a great amount of time indoors watching movies. Both men were intensely interested in movie making, and demanded that things be done their own way, never compromising their vision. It is this bond that turns ""The Aviator"" into a film that showcases Hughes as a developed, complex human being, rather than the persona fueled by Hughes' eccentricities. DiCaprio captures this depth as well as anyone could. He becomes the personification of a man who had everything in the world yet was consumed by paranoia and mental illness.
""The Aviator"" is also a film about the history and legacy of Hollywood, a topic in which that Scorsese is deeply knowledgeable. Yet for all his insight and encyclopedic knowledge of Hollywood and its posh history, Scorsese never falls into the trap of romanticizing L.A. or the Hollywood studio era. The hot, intrusive flash bulbs from press cameras lay littered over the red carpets that lead into movie theaters and nightclubs, cracking under the weight of footsteps and leaving a trail of shattered glass.
It is this sort of detail that is never seen in movies about Hollywood, and precisely the kind of filmmaking that puts Scorsese above other directors. Scenes in which Hughes enters gala premieres or nightclubs show him walking rigidly along the red carpet while a sea of press members snap pictures and yell questions. This is one of the few films about Hollywood that truly shows how nerve-racking an experience this can be, using an exquisite series of fast cuts and varying framings that emphasize the tension and invasion that occur when people like Hughes would walk down the red carpet.
""The Aviator"" is Martin Scorsese's greatest success in making a mainstream Hollywood film, though that can be a misleading statement. Scorsese has repeatedly made some of the best films of the last 30 years, but his best work lies outside the typical Hollywood style. His art has usually emphasized grittiness, realistic violence and introspection, all of which are elements that landed his movies outside of any particular genre or style. Even ""Cape Fear,"" Scorsese's take on the Hollywood thriller, was a little too violent and dark to fall within the mainstream. ""The Aviator"" shows Scorsese can play by the rules of Hollywood conventions and not sacrifice his integrity.
It is a sprawling epic complete with lavish Hollywood productions and action sequences, yet is ultimately focused on the introspection and psychology of one particular character. To Martin Scorsese, Howard Hughes was not merely an eccentric billionaire; he was a man with desires and faults shared by many-namely Scorsese himself..
