5-02-05, am

HBO Films has triumphed again with Warm Springs, a biopic of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his struggle to overcome partial paralysis caused by polio. Emmy Award-winners Cynthia Nixon and Kenneth Branagh play Eleanor and Franklin brilliantly in this intimate portrait of personal courage, deep friendship, and community. Warm Springs is a brilliant and moving work of art.

The movie details the life of a healthy, young playboy patrician whose personal ambitions were overshadowed only by his incapacity to empathize with ordinary people and their problems. Roosevelt was a reckless political star who had very little personal stake in the policies and ideas he advocated. His privilege and wealth isolated him from the rest of the world. Even in his personal life, he neither felt nor understood the hurt he caused his wife with his extra-marital affair.

This obliviousness also influenced his political career. When asked by adviser Louis Howe (David Paymer) why he was a Democrat, Roosevelt responds, 'Because the Democratic Party is the Party of the people, and I’m a man of the people.' Not hardly, is Howe’s reply.

Roosevelt’s carefree existence and privileged freedom from pain ends suddenly just as his political star is on the rise. While on a tour to build up his public image for an eventual run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Roosevelt is struck down by polio and paralyzed from the waist down. Because politics has no place for a visibly disabled person, Roosevelt is determined to walk again and reenter public life. After attempting many cures, Roosevelt hears of a paralyzed boy who walks while swimming in the warm mineral waters at a spa in Warm Springs, Georgia.

Roosevelt visits and too is able to walk a little in the waters. He quickly becomes convinced that polio victims can rebuild strength in their paralyzed limbs by exercising in warm mineral springs. He eventually purchases the spa and establishes the world’s first rehabilitation center for victims of polio. His work wins recognition by the medical community and helps many paralyzed people every year.

Along the way, Roosevelt discovers the strength and resiliency of the human community in struggle to overcome adversity and hardship. He learns that his ability to recover himself emotionally and physically is bound up with the opportunity and shared effort of those like him who are fighting to recover their abilities. He learns to reject pity and isolation. He comes to hear, feel and understand the struggles of ordinary people beyond the former confinement of his privileged life. He even learns that health and belonging are not the privileged property of the wealthy, but of all. He truly becomes a man of the people.

It is a powerful story unmatched by any other film so far this year – on television or in the theaters. Hollywood and 'free' television have a lot of catching up to do with HBO.

Other than the dominance of the moving story line, one particular performance rises above all others. Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor makes the movie such a success – as one doesn’t doubt was the case in Eleanor’s real relationship with Franklin. Nixon plays a shy woman married to a man who initially doesn’t love her much and married her only for political advantage. Nixon transforms this character into a vibrant, politically astute public figure as well as a source of strength and a newfound intimacy for Franklin. At the same time Eleanor isn’t simply subsumed by the mammoth character that is Franklin – on screen or real life. Nixon’s portrayal is stunning, restrained, subtle, and deeply humanizing. It is a rare performance and tour de force.

In an interview published on HBO’s web site, Nixon discusses playing Eleanor and the importance of her and Franklin’s contributions to our country’s life. 'I think personally it’s a really nice time to remember the Roosevelts to remember how expansive they were and how inclusive they were. And how much they thought the government could really help people. And I think they are the exact [LAUGHS] opposite of the government we have now.'

We all know the story of Roosevelt’s rise to power and his skills as a statesman and politician who forged the New Deal and helped build the international alliance against fascism. But until this film, we knew little about the man’s learned capacity to feel the depths of despair, the necessity for a common struggle to improve our own life and those around us, and the possibilities of triumph when people work together for a common good.

Warm Springs will air again on HBO Monday May 2 through May 5 at various times.