Warm Springs (2005)

(D.C., New York, Florida, Georgia, Texas; 1920-1928)

He was an arrogant politician, an adulterer, and an insulated son of wealth. She lead a life confined by expectations and was afraid to speak her mind. Then the polio came, and changed them both. ‘Warm Springs’ is the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and the fight with polio that transformed both of them into people capable of seeing our country through some of the most trying times in its history. It is an inspiring story of redemption, of rehabilitation, not just in a physical sense, but in a spiritual one.

Prior to traveling to Warm Springs, Georgia on the invitation of its struggling owner, Franklin Delinor Roosevelt had taken to confining himself in a boat off the coast of Florida, drinking whisky and bourbon and lamenting his lost career. When he got there he was at first skeptical of the supposed healing powers of the mineral rich springs for which the resort was named. But in time he found that it helped, and news of his enchantment with the place spread, attracting other polio sufferers in search of a cure. A cure it wasn’t, not in the physical sense many had hopped for, but it did improve their lives. They gained mussel tone, and came to be able to do more then they had been able to prior to the treatments. For Franklin it brought purpose and hope, rejuvenation and a connection with the common man he had lacked in the past, one that proved vital to his ability to do what he would be called by history to do, during his thirteen years in the presidency.

Eleanor Roosevelt grew as well, she gained confidence and grace as she traveled on behalf of her husband in an effort to keep him politically relevant. She changed from the shy deferential girl into one who could make her views felt with force, growing into the women her husband needed, and to whom it can be said he feel again in love.

It might seem that those years in Warm Springs were some of the least interesting, least important in the career of FDR, but in his life I think there may have been none of more importance. Granted some romantisation and a little image buffering, but this film feels true and offers a logical explanation for "That Man’s" incredible ability to make Americans think that anything could be conquered.