Director: Joseph SargentScripter Margaret Nagle’s work which chronicled Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s life after his polio diagnosis in 1921 at the age of thirty-nine was crafted into a gripping and compassionately humanistic made-for-HBO film from director Joseph Sargent. The film which received eight awards and twenty-six nominations including three for Golden Globes benefits from a stirringly passionate turn by British actor Kenneth Branagh. Branagh stars as Roosevelt who we meet up with following his failed campaign as the vice presidential running mate of James Cox who, after he’s struck with disability, ventures down for rehabilitation to Warm Springs, Georgia to spend time in the hot mineral water in the hopes that he’ll regain enough mobility to begin to walk once more. At the same time, Eleanor Roosevelt (played by Cynthia Nixon who disappears into her character as well) begins to gain confidence in her own role as a political public speaker quickly becoming involved in the government while her husband recuperates.
Truly indicative of the tagline that “the greatest challenge FDR faced was the one we never saw,” Warm Springs is a worthwhile and eye-opening account of the man’s struggle against prejudice towards disabled individuals (and indeed most of the actors in the film are actually disabled) and his own battle to regain self-confidence in a world that celebrates the able-bodied and is fearful of others. FDR’s strides against discrimination and the film’s inclusion of such timely issues such as racial and disability discrimination along with healthcare costs and rights to American citizens make the film all the more potent today. With great supporting performances by Tim Blake Nelson, David Paymer and Kathy Bates, Warm Springs is one of the best HBO films in years and given the consistently amazing productions the channel is responsible for creating, that’s saying something indeed.
