Themes: Heads of State, Living With Disability, Rise To Power
Main Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Cynthia Nixon, David Paymer, Tim Blake Nelson, Jane Alexander
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
Plot
In the tradition of Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello, the made-for-cable biopic Warm Springs focuses on one of the least publicized aspects in the life of America's most-publicized (and longest-serving) president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, here played brilliantly by British actor Kenneth Branagh. Like Sunrise, Warm Springs uses as its starting point the year 1921, when the 39-year-old Roosevelt was permanently paralyzed from the waist down by an attack of polio. But whereas the earlier film concentrated on FDR's battle to return to public life despite his handicap, this film zeroes in on Roosevelt's efforts to cure himself of his affliction. Having heard of the therapeutic value of the waters of Warm Springs in rural Georgia, Roosevelt makes a pilgrimage to the area, which is little more than a swamp surrounded by dilapidated shacks. Though he never experiences the "miracle" cure that he so desperately seeks, Roosevelt is instrumental in the conversion of Warm Springs from a backwater hellhole to a streamlined, efficiently managed polio-treatment center, a virtual mecca for hundreds of thousands of others who had been crippled by the debilitating illness. And in the process, he also brings hope, optimism, and racial enlightenment to the poverty-stricken, multiethnic citizens of Warm Springs. Even more significantly, FDR removes 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 celestial "punishment" of the victim (it is noted, however, that Roosevelt was always careful never to reveal the true extent of his immobility nor his atrophied legs in public, feeling that it might diminish the nation's image of an "invulnerable" Commander in Chief). Also in the cast are Cynthia Nixon as Roosevelt's devoted wife, Eleanor; Jane Alexander (who'd previously played Eleanor Roosevelt in two TV miniseries) as his over-protective 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. Originally telecast by HBO on April 30, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Kathy Bates - Helena Mahoney; Matt O'Leary - Fred Botts; Andrew Davoli - Jake Perini; Nelsan Ellis - Roy; Melissa Ponzio - Lucy Mercer; Deborah Calloway-Duke - Aunt Sally; Felicia Day - Eloise Hutchinson; Wilbur Fitzgerald - Al Smith; Brian F. Durkin - Elliott Roosevelt; Devon Gearhardt - Young Elliott Roosevelt; Jared Lang - Young James Roosevelt; Matt Malloy - Lionel Purdy; Alyssa Zirkman - Jackie Mills; Kenneth L. Zirkman - Stuart Mills; Rand Hopkins - Dr. Lovett; Terry Loughlin - Dr. Hebert; Danny Connell - Danny; Meggie Geisland - Daisy
Credit
Lynn Kressel - Casting, Shay Griffin - Casting, Joseph Sargent - Director, Michael Brown - Editor, Michael Brown - Editor, Mark Gordon - Executive Producer, Celia Costas - Executive Producer, Bruce Broughton - Composer (Music Score), Evyen Klean - Musical Direction/Supervision, Sarah Knowles - Production Designer, Robbie Greenberg - Cinematographer, Chrisann Verges - Producer, Margaret Nagle - Screenwriter
The film was produced by HBO Films and directed by Joseph Sargent. The majority of the film was made at Warm Springs, Georgia and its surrounding locations. The producers strove to make sure that many of the physical details were as authentic as possible. For example, Kenneth Branagh, as Roosevelt, is seen driving the very same specially-equipped automobile that FDR was taught to drive at Warm Springs. The cottage that Roosevelt stays in during the film is one of the cottages that the real FDR stayed in. And the swimming pool in which the patients swim in is the actual therapeutic swimming pool at Warm Springs, refurbished specifically for the film.
Reception
The film was nearly unanimously praised by the critics, and won five Emmy Awards out of an astounding sixteen nominations, including Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie, Best Supporting Actress in a Made-For-Television Movie (Jane Alexander), and Best Original Score (Bruce Broughton). Joseph Sargent, who was also Emmy-nominated for his direction, did not win. He did, however, receive a Directors Guild of America award for Warm Springs. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle won a Writers Guild of America Award for her script. The film was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, but did not receive any.
Historical basis
A peer-reviewed study in 2003 suggested that Roosevelt's paralytic illness was probably caused by Guillain-Barré syndrome, not polio. However, the film is accurate in that Roosevelt and everyone around him would have believed that his symptoms were caused by polio, which was epidemic in the U.S. at the time.
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