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Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon in Warm Springs
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Kenneth Branagh is terrific as a young FDR.
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WARM SPRINGS Most Inspiring Film, 2005 - 5 stars 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.  Waitsel Smith, September 13, 2005 Text © 2005 Waitsel Smith. Image © 2005 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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