This made for TV HBO docudrama explores the little known early life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, before he became President of the United States and led his country through the Great Depression and the Second World War. In 1923, in the prime of his early life, Roosevelt is struck with infantile paralysis, or polio, after visiting a group of boy scouts at their summer camp for a photo opportunity.
The movie is about his struggle with the disease, which leaves him crippled from the waist down. Determined to get help any way he can, Franklin visits Warm Springs, a dilapidated spa in rural Georgia. Though he is appalled at how run-down the place is, he is determined to try out the warm spring waters for which the place is named. From his first encounter, he realizes how therapeutic the water is, and, feeling rejuvenated (though not completely well), he decides to stay for an extended period of time. Word of his adventures gets out, and soon other people with polio make the effort, some at great sacrifice, to get to Warm Springs and also experience the healing properties of its warm mineral water.
There are several issues that FDR faces as he attempts to deal with the trauma and limitations of his disability in Warm Springs. One of these is discrimination. Roosevelt is told at one point that his frequent use of the springs is driving away the local clientele, who won’t go near him or others with polio, shriveling up an already dwindling business. FDR finds a young man very sick with polio in the back of a train, where he had been forced to travel alone for days without food or water. Another issue he deals with is the skepticism of those in the local medical profession that the waters could do any good for someone with polio. Roosevelt handles these and other issues with courage and daring, making a positive impact on not only his own life but on those around him as well. Warm Springs still carries on his legacy as the Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation Center.
What makes this movie really shine are the exceptional actors, especially Kenneth Branagh, the fine English actor, as a young Franklin Roosevelt, Cynthia Nixon as a shy Eleanor Roosevelt, Tim Blake Nelson as Tom Loyless, the ailing manager of Warm Springs, and Kathy Bates as the physical therapist Helena Mahoney. These actors add a tremendous amount of realism and color to the story and make the movie all the more memorable to watch.
Warm Springs has made a lasting impression on me since I have a quadriplegic father who I have helped for the past couple of years, so I can identify with many of the themes of this movie. If you know someone who faces physical challenges you will certainly want to see this movie. It will make you more sensitive to the needs of others as well as give you a new and better appreciation of the man who was our 32nd president. Highly recommended.
Check the WRL catalog for Warm Springs
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