There’s always a mixture of anticipation and dread when preparing to watch a film about a tremendously important topic — especially when you know a fair bit about it. That’s even more so when the film is made by people who don’t hate the American Founding. When such a film is made outside of Hollywood’s confines — it increases the odds that it will be true to life but trend towards a mediocre offering soon to be forgotten.
It’s with great relief that I can report Jon Erwin’s Young Washington delivered both truth and beauty. The film featured a stunning performance by, ironically, a 22-year-old, 6’4” Londoner, William Franklin-Miller, as the eponymous leading role. On screen, we follow Washington’s mostly frustrated efforts to break into the top ranks of a highly stratified colonial society. From his militarily useful work surveying the frontier at age 16, to his formative combat service during the French and Indian War, the story is a prelude to the Revolutionary War, taking us through 1753 to 1755, when he was 21 to 23 years old.
