Warme Quellen

"Warm Springs" is a tour de force by Branagh who portrays FDR as a man of money and privilege who is struck down by polio in the early days of his political career. Unable to use his legs he begins to wallow in self pity until he visits a Georgia mineral water spa called Warm Springs where he finds honesty, compassion, kinship, and most of all himself, his wife, and a new sense of purpose. A very pretty period film with good production value, an excellent supporting cast, and sterling performances by Branagh and Nixon, "Warm Springs" would have made an enjoyable stand alone drama. The fact that it's also a biopic about FDR only serves to make it that much more interesting. Another winner for the whole family from HBO. (B+)

In what I have said before has been a very good year for movies with such amazing films as Finding Neverland, Ray, Million Dollar Baby and so on. Along comes an absolute remarkable find...and a television movie nonetheless. Warm Springs is quite possibly one of, if not THE, best movie I have ever seen, I can't recommend this enough. I can't promise that everyone will feel the same about it but I can guarantee you can't not like it and not feel passionate about it.

Warm Springs is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt following his unsuccessful bid for vice president. A year following that bid at 39 years old he is struck down with infantile paralysis, better known as Polio. The powerful man is devastated by the crippling disease. His life as he knew it is over. He drinks his way out of public life and hides himself away, ashamed by the disease. After trying many different healing methods and medicines he is informed of a place in the backwoods of Georgia called "Warm Springs" a mineralized pool resort where a crippled boy found he was able to walk in the waters because of the high mineral concentration. Desperate to try anything Roosevelt goes to the location. He is shocked by the state of the resort which is run down, and poorly operated. Out of desperation he stays out of his element in order to try the water. After several treatments in the water he suddenly finds himself revitalized and able to step in the water. He falls in love with the run down Warm Springs and agrees to an interview with a local newspaper. Despite the reporters attempt to make the interview about Roosevelt, Roosevelt talks about Warm Springs to no end. Next thing he knows Polio victims from all over are risking everything to come to Warm Springs. They can't pay, most of them are poor, and the "healthy" guests are threatening to check out fearing they will catch the disease. The waters are miraculous and Roosevelt finds a whole new public and a whole new reason to live in his fellow sufferers. His wife meanwhile keeps the Roosevelt name in the public eye by becoming spokeswoman to different organizations and gearing Roosevelt up for his return to politics which would ultimately lead to one of the greatest Presidencies in history.

Three things make this such an incredibly film that it should walk away with any and all awards it is eligible for. First, the acting, the casting of this film was so brilliantly done. They are all just phenomenal. The writing, Margaret Nagle, is obviously a beautifully well spoken writer. And finally the directing, Joseph Sargent who is absolutely no stranger to directing made the most passionate film, and for Television nonetheless, I have ever seen. Kenneth Branagh, who is always an intense actor, plays Roosevelt with such feverish passion from his highest highs to his lowest lows. Granted as everyone keeps pointing out he didn't look a lot like him and his English accent was a little misplaced but his performance was so moving and so incredibly it's easily overlooked. Kathy Bates as the determined, and fevered supporter of Roosevelt's Warm Springs, is a wonderful if not slightly underused addition to the cast. She is always a brilliant actress. A real treat was Cynthia Nixon who is really only known as Miranda from Sex and The City (a show which I personally can't stand.) Cynthia Nixon instead puts across such an incredibly performance as the socially withdrawn, but dedicated and loving wife Eleanor Roosevelt, bravo to her. The rest of the supporting cast is just unbelievable. No one turns in a less than remarkable performance. Tim Nelson stands out in my mind as manager of Warm Springs and someone who becomes very close to Roosevelt, Tom Loyless. For the first time in many, many years I literally found myself in tears during a film. All in all, this movie is an absolute must see for anyone interested in political history, or just for a beautifully directed film. 10/10

My wife is a polio survivor, and obviously handicapped, from the disease's last American days in the 1950's. I was a little worried about selecting it for our evening viewing because too often movies about a physical or other handicap tend to fall into a mushy wallow of pity and become insulting. Whatever failings this one has as an historical or biographical document, so ably pointed out by my fellow reviewers, it was clear to us that the real topic was his facing, accepting, and surviving polio and then moving on. It did so realistically and with complete grace. The portrayals of paternalism/pity/revulsion shown the handicapped by many and by Franklin himself were spot-on examples of the well-meaning but hurtful attentions that people carrying many different burdens get handed daily. The polio didn't ultimately define FDR-the man, any more than his hair color did but the movie does a wonderful job showing his transition to that realization, and yet never asks us to feel sorry for him.

Having been a a patient at Warm Springs for many years during the 1930s and late 1940s, I feel qualified to critique the HBO movie, Warm Springs. The feel of the period and the scenes of the Warm Springs area were fairly realistic. The Meriwether Inn and the surrounding grounds were located on top of a hill, and not on flat ground. The pool where everyone swam was the authentic pool that FDR asked his friend Edsel Ford to build for him, after he acquired the property. I have swum in the pool many times. FDR was a man of great humor, and this is what is lacking in Kenneth Branagh's portrayal. Branagh completely missed the essence of the man, but so would any actor who attempted to portray FDR. Fred Botts was a great friend of mine, and when he arrived in Warm Springs, it was in the baggage car of the train. His brother accompanied him, and had modified a packing crate for him to rest in. He couldn't sit up for very long without experiencing great discomfort. He could stand up, or he could lie down, so he asked his brother to build him the crate so he could ride in comfort from Pittsburgh to Warm Springs. FDR's first words to him upon Fred's arrival were, "You must be the skeleton from Pennsylvania." Fred was tall and very thin. In 1916, Fred was working toward his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Among his admirers and supporters was Enrico Caruso. When polio struck him, his singing career ended, and he returned home to Pennsylvania, where he remained a prisoner in his family home for 10 years. When he arrived at Warm Springs, he and FDR immediately became great friends, and he remained as the registrar of the hospital until his death in the 1950s. He was FDR's favorite singer, and he used his great bass voice to lead the Companions (the term for the first patients of Dr. Roosevelt) in singing at the many picnics that FDR had up on Pine Mountain. He was not the callow youth portrayed in the movie. Tom Loyless was, in fact, the co-owner of the Columbus, GA Ledger, and not a failed newspaperman as portrayed in the movie. Doctor Lovett was the first doctor at the hospital, and he did much good work among the patients. The report he supposedly wrote about FDR's condition is a fiction, as far as I know. The trip to the medical convention in Atlanta was mostly Hollywood propaganda. The pushboys were FDR's invention, and not Helena Mahoney's. FDR's appearance at the Democratic Convention in Houston happened much the way it was portrayed in the movie. Overall, the movie portrayed FDR's family situation fairly accurately. He experienced great pressure from his mother to come to Hyde Park and hide in the family home. It is to his great credit that he did not do this. A final note, it's a pity that FDR's law partner in New York, Basil O'Conner, was left out of the film. FDR persuaded O'Conner to become the Chairman of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. It wasn't long until the March of Dimes became the major funding effort for the National foundation, and Warm Springs was on solid financial ground. Comedian Eddie Cantor came up with the March of Dimes idea.

I'm in shock that two people gave this excellent film a 1 out of 10. I can perhaps see how some didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did, but to rate it as awful shows just plain ignorance to me.

Not only is this gem beautifully scripted, wonderfully shot and edited, as well as tremendously directed, but Cynthia Nixon and Kenneth Branagh dominate. I am familiar with a wide selection of Branagh's work, and this is one of his best performances to date! FDR is my favorite President, and I surely feel that Branagh does justice to the man.

On a personal note, I was brought to tears on three separate occasions when watching this film. Now, this may not seem like much, but rare is it that a tear falls from my eye even once during a showing.

Please, please see this film, if only for it's inspiration. I believe this is a sadly overlooked masterpiece, and we must not allow it to be forgotten. If you liked his Hamlet, you'll love his Franklin.