KANSAS CITY – The fireworks may have fallen silent now that Independence Day has passed, but there’s still plenty time and reason to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America and God’s providence in bringing freedom and prosperity. In that patriotic spirit, I heartily recommend the new film, Young Washington.
As you probably gathered from its title, Young Washington tells the story of the United States’ founding father long before he battles the British during the Revolutionary War. In fact, it deals mostly with his early ambitions to serve as a British military officer (leading the audience to cheer ironically for the Crown during the movie’s battle scenes).
George, we learn, grew up an outsider in a world he longed to join. As a colonial, he occupied a station far below the British officers he idolizes. He wasn’t permitted an education, though he reads and writes voraciously on his own. As a young man, he finds himself surveying the frontiers and is soon caught up in what would become the French and Indian War. He eventually becomes the leader of the Viriginia Militia, though still without the respect or trust of his British “superiors.”
Yet it is through these challenges that we begin to see God’s hand in Washington’s life. “Failure is a great teacher,” he remarks after suffering a humiliating loss to the French at Fort Necessity in what was the Ohio frontier. He learns several such lessons in his early military career that clearly informed his later leadership. Each slammed door slowly equips him for his eventual role as the military mastermind that would lead ragtag civilians against the most powerful empire on earth in a war for independence.
It’s a time in Washington’s life we tend to forget, but the movie is a welcome reminder. It’s also very entertaining. Written, directed and produced by Jon Erwin (I Can Only Imagine; House of David; Jesus Revolution), there’s nothing overtly “Christian” about the movie aside from the very strong theme of God’s Providence. The story moves quickly, established its stakes, and the action/battle sequences are on par with any other Hollywood period piece. There are even a few sly references to the mythos that would surround Washington, like the chopping down of the cherry tree and the Christmas crossing of the icy Delaware River. It doesn’t hide the fact that Washington owned slaves, which a lesser film might have glossed over.
Erwin has grown in his confidence since getting his start with the Kendrick Brothers’ Courageous in 2011, but it’s the cast that truly stands out with no weak links: William Franklyn-Miller has an earnestness and humility very fitting a beloved founding father; six-time Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) brings gentle gravitas as Washington’s wealthy patron; Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley (Ghandi) is a pompous dose of comic relief as a fastidious royal governor; Mary-Louise Parker gives a stoic, nuanced performance as George’s mother; Andy Serkis (of Gollum fame) steals the show as a blustering British general constantly belittling Washington.
Young Washington is rated PG-13 for “war violence and some bloody images.” The scenes involving blood are not gory. We see attacks with muskets, swords and hatchets, but the camera doesn’t revel in the violence. Washington’s love interest (before he met Martha, his eventual wife), wears a dress that is more revealing than necessary, but still more modest than most of what is on TV.
My weekday showing was nearly full, and the audience applauded as the credits rolled. In a time when believers are labeled “Chrisitan Nationalists” for expressing anything resembling gratitude for the founding of our nation and God’s steady hand in that process, Young Washington is a breath of fresh air.
