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DVD Warm Springs
Warm Springs is a riveting, deeply moving film about a lesser-known chapter in the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American president who saw his country through the dark, terrible times of the Great Depression and most of World War II. Before those epochal events, however, Roosevelt spent time in a political wilderness, groomed for high office but struck down by polio at age 39. Warm Springs is the fascinating story of Roosevelt's painful journey from despair back to wisdom and leadership. Kenneth Branagh gives an emotionally raw, courageous performance as FDR, estranged from his wife, Eleanor (a near-luminous Cynthia Nixon), and his political guru (David Paymer) while ambivalently seeking rehabilitation at Warm Springs, a broken-down spa in the backwoods of Georgia. Mired in misery, misanthropy, and drink, Roosevelt is coaxed back to civilized behavior and a glimmer of altruism by the spa's ailing, folksy manager, Tom Loyless (a remarkable Tim Blake Nelson), and the ministrations of a progressive-minded, physical therapist (solid work by Kathy Bates). Word of Roosevelt's improvement in the buoyant, mineral-rich waters of Warm Springs draws other polio victims--some of whom endure terrible discrimination and misery while traveling—to the spa. In time, these hopeful, all-ages paraplegics form a community that inspires a sense of mission in Roosevelt, setting the stage for his return to the political arena. Surehanded, 80-year-old veteran director Joseph Sargent (on a roll following his lovely, 2004 cable movie Something the Lord Made) has made a pitch-perfect and intimate, historical drama one never wants to see end. --Tom Keogh
Sometimes refered to as that charming cripple in the White House, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was many things to many people. He was a strong leader as evidenced by winning the presidency four times, a friendly voice as evidenced by countless radio broadcasts called "fireside chats" but first and foremost, he was a man of great determination as evidenced by the splendid HBO Production, "Warm Springs." Other reviews on this thread credit the wonderful cast and crew of "Warm Springs" so rather then repeat much that's already been said, let me say thanks to HBO for having the courage to produce such a moving and inspirational chapter of our history. F.D.R. was called many things during his life, a socialist, a political opportunist, even a traitor to his class for the federal programs he initiated such as rural electrification, a government insured banking system and social security. Viewing the HBO production "Warm Springs," will help you understand why F.D.R. was also known as a humanist.
"But I'm married to you and you are my life"
One of the first questions I asked about Warm Springs, HBO's biopic of Franklin D. Roosevelt was how did Kenneth Branagh get his legs to look like a polio victim? If it's makeup it's amazing, and if it's digital photography it's even more amazing. But kudos should also be given to the wonderful Branagh, who as a Brit., transforms himself into the ill-stricken president with consummate ease.
Rather than focus on Roosevelt's political life, Warm Springs chooses instead to deal with his valiant fight to overcome the effects of polio, dealing with his life from 1920 to 1928. It's a valiant and stirring production with an insightful teleplay, a stellar cast, and a superb director that coalesces it all to bring forth a rich and inspirational film.
The year is 1921 and Roosevelt then thirty-nine, attends a summer camp for boy scouts. He washes his face with some contaminated water, contracting polio, a disease that rarely struck adults. It left him with paralyzed legs and little hope for the future. With a small glimmer of hope, he traveled to a rundown resort in rural Georgia for a possible cure from exercise in a pool filled by the warm mineral waters.
There, among the rural poor and other people with crippling disabilities, in what must have seemed like a completely different universe, FDR discovers his own humanity. It is this humanity and his innate sympathy for the common man that helps shape his democratic leanings.
Although the power of the warm springs never rehabilitated Roosevelt, or gave him the "miracle" cure, the positive energy that emanated from the other polio survivors gave the man a new lease on life. He ended up being instrumental in the conversion of Warm Springs from a backwater hellhole to a streamlined, ultra-efficiently managed polio-treatment center, a mecca for hundreds of thousands of others who had been crippled by the debilitating illness.
Kenneth Branagh gives a towering performance as Roosevelt, showing him as a fighter, who hides, dreams and, with the help of a few others, regains the will to be a political leader. More than that, he is convincing as, bit by bit, the inexperienced, self absorbed and somewhat philandering patrician gives way to a man of uncommon passion and heightened sensitivity.
Cynthia Nixon is also good as Eleanor Roosevelt, who broadens her own horizons and conquers her own fears. She proves herself to be a loyal and faithful wife, even when Franklin asks her whether she can really have a happy life with him being so crippled.
The supporting players are also strong with Jane Alexander playing as his over-protective and snobbish mother Sara; David Paymer as his crusty chief aide Louis Howe; Kathy Bates as his no-nonsense physical therapist Helena Mahoney; and Tim Blake Nelson as Tom Loyless, the man in charge of Warm Springs.
Warm Springs embraces the complexity of the situation by simultaneously approaching the story from personal, social, medical, and even political perspectives. And the film cleverly avoids the saccharine and overly sentimental. The intelligent and carefully scripted dialogue is both revealing and thought provoking. The set design is remarkably faithful to the period, and the costumes are beautifully recreated.
Perhaps Warm Springs is most significant for showing us how Roosevelt removed the stigma of polio from the public consciousness, forever abolishing the misguided notions that the disease adversely affected the brain, that it could be spread merely by physical contact, or that it represented some kind of moral punishment for the "sins" of the victim. But this fine film is also significant for showing how one man could beat all the odds and go on to become one of the United States of America's greatest presidents. Mike Leonard September 05.
KENNETH BRANAGH'S BEST PERFORMANCE
I've been a Kenneth Branagh fan for years. (I always struggle with the spelling.) I watched him make his feature directorial debut in Henry V and thought, "This man is destined for greatness." He was young, talented and had great vision and drive. He had been solid in Fortunes of War before that and interesting in Dead Again after. I loved his labor of joy in Much Ado About Nothing; but, unfortunately, I hated his interest in the macabre in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I have watched him go from project to project through the years, evidently trying to find his creative self or the right part. Some of them were worthless roles - like Dr. Loveless in Wild, Wild, West; some were thankless - like Professor Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Even his role as Shackleton in the A&E miniseries by that name somehow didn't quite ring true. Then Warm Springs came along about a forty-something Franklin Delano Roosevelt: a part that seemed to be made for him - and he filled it perfectly.
If his portrayal of FDR isn't his best performance to date, it has to be one of his top two or three. He's magnificent. I felt I was watching Roosevelt himself. The role is full of the ups and downs of a good dramatic piece, with his character going from youthful joy, to tragic despair, to newfound optimism, to blind determination, back to joyful victory. He shows a broad range of life experiences in that one role, and pulls it off beautifully.
Franklin starts off as a wealthy politician with the world at his feet, totally oblivious to the feelings or circumstances of others, including his wife. He then discovers he has polio - infantile paralysis - and his life is thrown into a tailspin. After a bout with self-pity, he agrees to check himself into an obscure and run-down health spa in Warm Springs, Georgia - the other side of nowhere for a man of his background. It takes a lot to humble him, to get him to care for others and to start believing in his own recovery - but he finally makes the transition, with the help of the goodhearted proprietor of Warm Springs, Tom Loyless, played touchingly by Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou). He's also bolstered in his quest by the handicapped residents of the spa, many of whom came there because they knew he was there. Before long, they've become one big happy family, with most of the residents on the road to recovery, and Roosevelt turning the failing spa into a successful enterprise. Unfortunately, his own recovery is not so successful, and he must face a future confined to a wheelchair.
The film does not show FDR's presidency; but we are given to understand that what he accomplished at Warm Springs - his attempts at recovery, which helped build his character; his desire to connect with people, which he learned from the other handicapped residents; and his success at turning the Warm Springs spa around - all helped prepare him for his life's greatest challenge: the office of president of the United States. Even though he tried to keep his handicap a secret from the American people through four terms of office, he never lost his heart for the less fortunate, and fought for them throughout the Great Depression and World War II.
I actually got to be in this film and talk with Kenneth Branagh briefly. He seemed very much a man of the people, humble in spirit, in spite of his background - just as Roosevelt became through his tortured journey. I'm not saying Branagh has necessarily suffered as Roosevelt did; but his performance seems to testify to an empathy that could only have come from going through a place similar to Roosevelt's. I think Kenneth Branagh, director Joseph Sargent and writer Margaret Nagle have given us a very special gift in this film, and I don't think you'll ever think of FDR or Branagh in the same way again.
There are other remarkable performances as well, most notably Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) as Eleanor, and Kathy Bates (About Schmidt) as Helena Mahoney, an innovative physical therapist and friend. Director Sargent has done a superb job utilizing the actual locations of FDR's experiences in Warm Springs, Atlanta and surrounding environs. The entire production is a masterpiece, and very worthy of the sixteen Emmy's it's been nominated for.
A frame-bursting roster of actors crowds this two-part HBO miniseries, which is nothing less than a look at America through the lens of a small New England town. Richard Russo adapted his own novel, a story of a gently depressed factory town that has always been run by the wealthiest family around (currently lorded over by matriarch Joanne Woodward). Ed Harris plays the central role, a decent, cautious man who runs a local diner and carefully negotiates the political niceties of Empire Falls; Paul Newman is his rapscallion of a father (the son is perpetually picking food out of Dad's beard), Helen Hunt is Harris's ex-wife, Aidan Quinn his feistier brother, and Robin Wright Penn his tragical mother seen in flashbacks.
The goal of Russo and director Fred Schepisi seems to have been... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Fred Schepisi DVD Release Date: Released the 13 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The second and concluding part of the 1976 miniseries focuses on Franklin D. Roosevelt's early career and the major role his wife played in overcoming profound difficulties in their marriage. Told mostly in flashback, the film features Edward Herrmann and Jane Alexander, whose performances in the title roles are uncanny. During World War I, the Roosevelts moved to Washington, D.C., where young Franklin, while serving in the Wilson administration, began having an affair with Lucy Mercer, his wife Eleanor's social secretary. Deeply wounded when she discovers his betrayal, Eleanor nonetheless stays with Franklin. And she would be at his side when, during a summer vacation with their five children, he was stricken with polio and paralyzed. Urged to take a more public role during his... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Daniel Petrie DVD Release Date: Released the 30 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Clint Eastwood's 25th film as a director, Million Dollar Baby stands proudly with Unforgiven and Mystic River as the masterwork of a great American filmmaker. In an age of bloated spectacle and computer-generated effects extravaganzas, Eastwood turns an elegant screenplay by Paul Haggis (adapted from the book Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner by F.X. Toole, a pseudonym for veteran boxing manager Jerry Boyd) into a simple, humanitarian example of classical filmmaking, as deeply felt in its heart-wrenching emotions as it is streamlined in its character-driven storytelling. In the course of developing powerful bonds between "white-trash" Missouri waitress and aspiring boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), her grizzled, reluctant trainer Frankie Dunn... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Hilary Swank - Morgan Freeman Director(s): Clint Eastwood DVD Release Date: Released the 12 July 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Leonardo DiCaprio - Cate Blanchett - Kate Beckinsale Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Annette Bening's outstanding performance is the best reason to see Being Julia, a highly melodramatic adaptation of the 1937 novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham. With a prestigious pedigree (director Istvan Szabo and screenwriter Ronald Harwood share impressive theatrical backgrounds) and a stellar cast including Jeremy Irons, Bruce Greenwood, and Juliet Stevenson, the film's backstage and onstage theatrics take place in pre-World War II London, when the venerable actress Julia (Bening) fends off middle-age by romancing a stage-struck young American (Shaun Evans) in a calculated attempt to retain some youthful vitality while airing her own dirty laundry onstage in a glorious act of divine diva behavior. Treating life and theater as one big play in which she's the perpetual... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael Gambon - Annette Bening - Jeremy Irons Director(s): István Szabó DVD Release Date: Released the 22 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction...