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A 22-year-old colonel in the British Army made a crucial mistake in the 1750s. He messed up so badly that he may have been responsible for dragging North America into the brutal Seven Years’ War. The colonel had built his stronghold, Fort Necessity, with a mind to strategy; he just picked the wrong one. Instead of providing a vantage point from which to see and fire upon enemies, the fort was easily surrounded by the French and hostile Indians, who forced a surrender on July 3, 1754.
With dozens of deaths on his hands, Colonel George Washington had failed.
Among those who still care about the founders of our country, there is a tendency to focus only on their virtues, a temptation that began all the way back in the Revolutionary period. George Washington never felled a cherry tree, that we know of, though the myth tells us something about the way historians wanted him to be seen: honorable, responsible, and honest. The urge to deify our first president is so strong that there is a painting in the Capitol Rotunda titled “The Apotheosis of Washington.”
But the man who “could not tell a lie” had his faults like the rest of us. And in Angel Studios’ “Young Washington,” it’s these failures that turn him into the legendary general whom we know of today.
Washington, played by 22-year-old William Franklyn-Miller, is nothing but potential and ambition. A colonist without a title, land, or his own fortune, he aspires to much greater things than anyone expects of him. His mother discourages him from joining the British forces, and he is initially rejected as an officer because of his lack of formal education.
When he offers to be a land surveyor for the wealthy Thomas Fairfax, played by “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer, he becomes wrapped up in the bloody French and British land disputes in a way he could never have imagined. Like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton, Washington is “young, scrappy, and hungry,” but he’s also trusting and naive.
Washington is unexpectedly undercut by a group of American Indians who use his exploratory expedition for their own purposes against the French, and, due to a translation failure, he accidentally takes credit for the assassination of a French ensign. When he tries to explain away his missteps, he gets a lesson in leadership.
“To lead is to forfeit the right to make excuses,” Virginia’s lieutenant governor, played by Ben Kingsley, tells him.
The film takes us through the pivotal time in Washington’s life before he grew into a great leader. He is rejected and dismissed at seemingly every turn, including by a young Sally Fairfax, whose presence adds a bit of romantic tension to the plot while underscoring that Washington didn’t, in fact, achieve everything he wanted as a young man.
Yet George refuses to give up, even after his failure at Fort Necessity. “July 3rd will be etched in my memory forever,” he says. When he returns to the British forces as an aide-de-camp, swiftly returning to leadership after the death of Major General Edward Braddock (Andy Serkis), he willingly puts himself in harm’s way for the sake of his men, the Virginians.
This is the kind of patriotism we lack on the big screen. This year’s semiquincentennial celebration has been largely ignored by Hollywood. Over the past few years, Americans who are ashamed of our history have scrambled to topple statues, paint over murals, and otherwise erase or belittle monuments not just to George Washington, but to other heroes of our shared past.
As families gather to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, what they need is a film to remind them of the courage and sacrifices of the men who made our country what it is today. They’re looking for films with real heroes who can inspire them to be better. (They’re certainly not going to get that from “Supergirl.”) “Young Washington,” in theaters tomorrow, is such a film.
Bring the older kids: Angel Studios recommends the PG-13 film for ages 12 and up for violence and light cursing, though I’d say some older elementary school students may enjoy it as well. And all ages can benefit from the example of its young hero.
The same age as the young Washington he portrays, Franklyn-Miller plays the founding father with conviction. Washington concludes that “failure is a great teacher,” and he refuses to allow even his catastrophic failures to keep him from fighting for his country. There’s a modern lesson there for anyone wise enough to heed it.
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