Warm Springs (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Joseph Sargent

Writer (WGA):

Margaret Nagle (written by)

Release Date:

30 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

The greatest challenge FDR faced was the one we never saw.

Plot:

Franklin Roosevelt, left a paraplegic from polio at 39 years of age, seeks out a miracle cure in the backwoods of Georgia.

Plot Keywords:

Roosevelt | Polio | Paraplegic | Rehabilitation | Spring

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 8 wins & 26 nominations

Cast

Kenneth Branagh	...	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Cynthia Nixon	...	Eleanor Roosevelt
David Paymer	...	Louis Howe
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Tom Loyless
Matt O'Leary	...	Fred Botts (as Matthew O'Leary)
Matt Malloy	...	Lionel Purdy
Andy Davoli	...	Jake Perini (as Andrew Davoli)
Nelsan Ellis	...	Roy Collier
Jane Alexander	...	Sara Delano Roosevelt
Kathy Bates	...	Helena Mahoney
Melissa Ponzio	...	Lucy Mercer
Quint Von Canon	...	Stephen Teller
Mike Pniewski	...	Hastings, Party Leader
Grayce Spence	...	League Member
Rand Hopkins	...	Dr. Lovett

Runtime:

USA:121 min | Argentina:121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

UK:PG | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company:

HBO Films

Trivia:

Most of the actors playing disabled people in the film are actually disabled.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The first scenes of the film recap the 1920 election as though it were a newsreel of the time, with FDR addressing a cheering crowd. But the first "talkie" wasn't until 1927, so the film should've been silent.

Quotes:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: [FDR is in the swimming pool] But I don't know how to stand.
Aunt Sally: Not yet, you don't.
Tom Loyless: But you will.

Movie Connections:

References Roberta (1935)

Soundtrack:

I Won't Dance

Very, very fine

In spite of some liberties being taken with events and personages for dramatic effect, this is a remarkably well-done retelling of the first four years after Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with infantile paralysis.

This version is less sentimental and perhaps more truthful than "Sunrise at Campobello", Dory Shary's play and film, from 1958 and 1960, covering the same events. Perhaps that is because many of the people involved were still living at the time, and the events and personages were still in living memory for so many in the audience for that piece, in 1960.

This version, however, minces no words and does not turn away from the grim reality of all the challenges Franklin faced, emotional and physical, in dealing with his illness. The performances of all involved are excellent. It is a challenge to portray people so well known to so many, and these actors, all of them, shine in their roles.

Central to all of this of course must be the performance of the actor playing FDR. For many, after "Sunrise at Campobello", only Ralph Bellamy could play Roosevelt, and he did it with great panache, even to repeating his performance twice, twenty and thirty years later, in the miniseries "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" in the 80s.

Without a doubt Kenneth Branagh gives what must be one of the best performances on film I have ever seen. He never descends to caricature or impersonation, he does not really look like FDR, he only gives suggestions of Franklin's speech rhythms and accent. But this actor inhabits the character as written so completely, with such wide emotional, physical and vocal range that I for one was totally convinced. This is truly a great film performance, worthy of any awards that it gets. And I hope it is recognized.