Faith of My Fathers

Faithful biography depicting the life of Sen. John McCain as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.

Coming from a strict military family, McCain is able to weather the storm on confinement and brutality of the North Vietnamese during the conflict.

A weak student at the academy, McCain is backed up by his father, a very good performance by Scott Glenn. Glenn portrays a totally dedicated military official who doesn't even shake an eyelid when he informed that his son has been captured.

The torture chambers and the torture inflicted on McCain and others is well shown.

McCain is definitely pictured as a hero in this film. He refused to be released if it meant having to participate in North Vietnamese propaganda.

A very good story dealing with military honor, call to duty and undying patriotism by our men and women in uniform.

Faith of My Fathers is a rather formulaic, predictable personality puff piece based on Senator John McCain's memoirs of his capture and experiences in Viet Nam.

As horrific as that experience must have been, this "made for TV" docudrama does a fairly good job of relating the ugly and terrible experience McCain went through without getting overly graphic or violent. The personal struggles with morality and sense of duty (for everyone) are what is in focus here.

Though much of the film portrays our "hero" as a noble and somewhat naive rebel, I believe it goes too far in trying to excuse McCain's faults and weaknesses and in fact, attempts to portray them as strengths or gloss over them altogether. Given the timing of this film, it is quite obviously a character "re-calibration" attempt for the McCain brand leading up to his run for the presidency. However, I think the film is excessive in its blatant attempt to present McCain as virtually perfect. While there's nothing wrong with being noble, brave, persistent, etc. For the right reasons, the film takes every opportunity to make sure you "get it." McCain was a hero, we get it... but it rather beats the point to death. Not unlike your grandma insisting you have "just one more bite" of her wonderful peach cobbler even though you are about to burst.

No doubt there were plenty of "personality branding" experts on hand to tweak the script (mostly to cut out anything that might be considered negative for McCain). The film is well acted and well produced. It is interesting enough to sit through but knowing its purpose was primarily to get McCain elected makes it feel a little too much like an elaborate and very expensive campaign ad. Still a good watch.

Many of the reviewers of this film have, I believe, reviewed it with the typical Gung ho way of looking at everything! Just because an American fights in a war doesn't make the biographical story, book or film, any good. This to me was scored high and favoured purely on the position of misplaced, dishonest sentiment. The film was not about whether of not he was a good as a man, a serving airman or even as an officer. It was about how the prison story was told on screen! They can't even be honest enough to admit that the film failed miserably. Apart from Shawn Hatosy playing his role superbly, the lack of substance, insight, the real life emissions deliberately left out of the final result, all left the viewer with no story to his background! This is a bio that told the viewer nothing whatsoever. All we get is a 1hr:30min film about him being beaten and tortured. It was just repetition and the film could have been 15 or 20 minutes long at the very most.

I have seen much better biographical film story's of well known people/celebrities etc; that told you how they were feeling, what made them strong enough to resist admitting to BS war crimes! Many Vietnam veterans who were P. O. W's received insanely cruel treatment from the barbaric uneducated Vietcong and N. V. A. Troops but many did not crack. One reviewer mentions that the director deliberately skips/emits anything that could be construed as negative; they actually say the McCain committed treason by his false admission of guilt against the Vietnamese people (I am not certain if it is seen as treason by the military but, it was most definitely swept under the rug forever). I have no idea if his auto biography is written with absolute truthful detail, much more explanatory insight and without embellishment of any kind.

Three stars for Hatosy and his acting (even though he did not have much of an expansive dialogue to say) and, a -3 score for a uselessly shallow film!

Shawn Hatosy appears to be managing his career carefully. For a young, relatively unknown actor he seems to look for work in films with casts that include accomplished, known co-workers. He hasn't made the mistake of accepting anything that's offered.

The story (McCain's harrowing experiences as a POW) should make one appreciate what McCain has given to his country but my lasting impression of this film is Hatosy's work. His was a very, very good piece of acting. This is an actor who has established a floor under his work which he will not go below. He has relatively high standards which assures viewers that anything he appears in will be good, or very good.

FAITH OF MY FATHERS tells the true story of John McCain's military service, capture, and imprisonment in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. Nearly all of this made-for-TV movie is shot with a hand-held camera bringing the drama in close and making it personal. The pacing is fine, although the commercial breaks tended to disrupt more than average. The acting was the highlight of this production. The unknown actor playing John McCain really captures his essence. About the only thing that did not work in FAITH OF MY FATHERS was the shower peeping scene. It was out of place and did not advance the story.

Interestingly, the conflict in FAITH OF MY FATHER -- Vietnam communists captors versus the American prisoners of war -- no longer holds water as Vietnam today is mostly known as being Asia's new shining tourist destination. All of the torture inflicted upon John McCain and his fellow servicemen was ultimately for naught. The heroic resistance of the American prisoners was also pointless.

As John McCain may run for President again, the war crimes depicted in FAITH OF MY FATHER connects to today's Iraqi prisoner abuse. Would a President John McCain, a torture victim of the Vietnam War, approve of the proxy torture and trained rape canines currently used against today's Iraqi war prisoners?

FAITH OF MY FATHER is a fitting companion piece to 1987's HANOI HILTON -- another drama focusing on the daily suffering, torture, and brutal treatment the American P.O.W.s in North Vietnam's Hoa Lo Prison. If I am not mistaken, John McCain was a technical adviser to HANOI HILTON. Very interesting.