AMSTERDAM – Review

By Cate Marquis | October 7, 2022

Director/writer David O. Russell’s AMSTERDAM features a dazzling cast in a period mystery/adventure tale in which three friends, bound by a pact made during World War I, embark on a wild adventure set in 1930s New York, to solve a mystery involving murder, a secret organization, and a possible plot against America.

There really was such a plot, which is among the many historical tidbits woven into this adventure tale, that has big doses of humor and romance as well. AMSTERDAM’s story brings to mind the classic Hollywood mystery adventure tales of the 1930s or 1940s, like CASABLANCA, or early Alfred Hitchcock or maybe a spy-thriller starring Humphrey Bogart. Even though this film is not in black and white, in another sense, it kind of is. Not only is a Black man one of the main characters but the story deals with those marginalized in early 20th century America, including Black Americans and the forgotten disabled veterans of the Great War (as WWI was first known), both of which must battle an entrenched power structure of the white, wealthy and well-connected.

But, at the heart of it, AMSTERDAM is really a film about friendship – the kind of deep enduring friendship we all hope to have, a friendship forged between the trio at the center of this tale by the horrors of WWI and idyllic post-war days in Amsterdam. Most of the story takes place in 1930s New York, during the Great Depression, but there is an extended flashback to post-WWI Amsterdam, with the rising prosperity and creative freedom of the 1920s and free from the Jim Crow attitudes back in America. After the war, many real Black Americans stayed behind in Europe to enjoy that freedom.

There are three friends at the center of this tale but mostly the story is told by one of them, Dr. Burt Berendsen, a slightly offbeat character played with wonderful appeal by Christian Bale.

The three met during WWI, although we don’t know that until a flashback a bit into the film. Christian Bale plays Burt Berendsen, a compassionate half-Jewish doctor in New York who tries to help forgotten, disfigured veterans of WWI, some of whom lost a eye as he did or grapple with pain and morphine addiction as he has. Dr. Berendsen works with his closest friend and lawyer, Harold Woodman (John David Washington), a soft-spoken, well-dressed Black graduate of Columbia Law School who is committed to helping the powerless. The two share a commitment to doing good in their work and a pact they made in WWI to always have each others backs, as well as sad romantic histories. Berendsen is separated from the wife he still loves, Beatrice (Andrea Riseborough), the daughter of a prominent 5th Avenue doctor Augustus Vandenheuvel (Casey Biggs). Woodman pines for his lost love, the unconventional nurse/artist Valerie (Margot Robbie) who cared for the wounded soldier pair in a French hospital and escaped with them to an idyll in Amsterdam. The now-vanished Valerie was the third member of their friendship loyalty pact.

David O. Russell has delighted audiences with films like AMERICAN HUSTLE and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, films that mix humor with drama or thriller plots, but AMSTERDAM may be his most ambitious yet. Those who saw the trailer for this new film might expect something a little more fast-paced action film than AMSTERDAM actually is (and that 1971 song in that trailer isn’t in this film, although maybe it could have been). AMSTERDAM is more a mystery thriller with a delicious humorous streak and an unexpected underlying warmth. It is funnier and more inspiring than might be expected.

Classic movie fans will notice that AMSTERDAM has strong parallels to the kind of thriller anti-fascist adventure mysteries of the 1930s and early 1940s – the kind with colorful characters, secrets and international plots. The kind of film made during the time period in which most of this film is set, although it starts during WWI, the Great War. You know, the War to End All Wars. And, of course, some of this really happened, as the film tells us at the start.

Actually, there is a surprising amount of real history woven into this fictional story. Saying how much is true might risk spoilers but there really was a fascist plot in the U.S. that was thwarted, and there really was a courageous American general who was part of that. The film’s version of that general is played by Robert De Niro in fine, military ramrod straight, morally-upright style, but the general isn’t the main character. The three main characters, a trio of friends, at the center of this adventure are played by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington, with supporting roles played by Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taylor Swift, Zoe Saldaña, Rami Malek, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, Timothy Olyphant, Michael Shannon and Mike Myers. Besides the historical mystery at the center of the plot, AMSTERDAM is full of other true-history tidbits in a story ranging from the Great War through the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s, in a rollicking tale told with humor and humanity.

For those who love movies and mysteries of the ’30s era this film is set in, and even more so if you know those films well, AMSTERDAM has special delights. The immensely charming AMSTERDAM does evoke that kind of feeling of friendships forged in hardship you see in those old movies, but it does so with David O. Russell’s signature sly humor and a bit craziness that is a bit more screwball comedy with moments of Marx Brothers, as well as nods to the present. While it is not as fast-paced as the trailer leads you to expect, it is far funnier and fun, far crazier and surprising, and with more warmth than expected, as well as all those real history references and a wonderful kind of friendship. That latter side is largely thanks to the three leads played so well and with deep feeling by Christian Bale, John David Washington and Margot Robbie.

This film is a classic Hollywood movie buffs’ delight. There is a fair dose of CASABLANCA in AMSTERDAM, including the city name in its title, but in this case, Amsterdam is more like the idyllic memories of Paris in that classic. In other ways, AMSTERDAM is like the early Hitchcock thriller THE 39 STEPS or any number of mid ’30s or early ’40s thrillers, where the hero has to beat a ticking clock to uncover a plot by “5th columnists,” a term for foreign spies with generally fascist plans. This is classic movie stuff, and the more you know about movies of that period, the more references you will get and enjoy.

Besides the many historical and period movie references, AMSTERDAM is filled with gorgeous period sets and details. AMSTERDAM also has fabulous cinematography by the great Emmanuel Lubezki, who effectively evokes the time period and sets the right emotional tones. There is an impressive bit of special effects fairly early on, thanks to visual effects supervisor Allen Maris, which jump-starts the action.

Set in mid-30s New York, we get a taste of the poor and forgotten (as this is still the Great Depression) but like the movies of that time, we spend more time visiting in the world of the wealthy untouched by those hardships. Berendsen’s wife Beatrice and her parents are part of that well-dressed set living in beautiful houses, But when are heroes’ quest takes them to the estate of millionaire Tom Voze (Rami Malik) and his stylish wife Libby (Anya Taylor-Joy), they really find the lap of luxury. They also find a surprise, one of the tale’s many plot twists.

There are plenty of those twists, humor that is either dark or farcical, and one extended flashback which gives us the essential backstory that makes it all work. The large cast come and go in dizzying fashion, with characters who reappear periodically. Among those are Michael Shannon and Mike Myers who play Henry Norcross and Paul Canterbury, a couple of spies who who are also avid birders, even if they tend to cross ethical lines, who have a penchant for speaking in riddles and metaphors – something scriptwriter/director Russell and star Christian Bale have some fun with. Other memorable turns come from Chris Rock, as attorney Woodman’s assistant, who says out loud the kind of things other Black characters might be thinking, about pervasive racism. Another is Zoe Saldana, who is wonderful as an efficient, down-to-earth autopsy nurse, Irma St. Clair, who sparks long-buried feelings in Berendsen. Matthias Schoenaerts plays a police detective, another veteran, while his clumsy, hot-headed non-veteran partner Detective Hiltz (Alessandro Nivola) rails against mocking by the veterans.

There is so much to enjoy in this entertaining, inspiring, heart-warming, history-themed adventure. AMSTERDAM packs so much in, that it may be too much for some audiences members who may become overwhelmed or even bit confused. History buffs and classic movie fans will most enjoy this big-hearted adventure, but anyone can if they are open to its message of friendship and loyalty. There is a bit of AMERICAN HUSTLE in this film, with its mix of true story facts and a personal story, but this one is bigger and better, and with a more wholesome, inspiring, patriotic and human message, even a freedom-loving, small-d democratic one.

AMSTERDAM opens Friday, Oct. 7, in theaters.