Product Description

He was the only president to be elected three times and is admired for his leadership during some of this nation's most challenging times most notably World War II and the Great Depression. Despite these historic accomplishments many Americans have never known of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's greatest achievement...until now. Starring Kenneth Branagh (Shakespeare) and Cynthia Nixon(Sex and the City) this inspiring true story reveals one man's secret quest for hope during his darkest days in a place that would serve as a source of strength for him the rest of his life: Warm Springs.Running Time: 120 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 026359275227

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22302 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-08-30
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com
Warm Springs is a riveting, deeply moving film about a lesser-known chapter in the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American president who saw his country through the dark, terrible times of the Great Depression and most of World War II. Before those epochal events, however, Roosevelt spent time in a political wilderness, groomed for high office but struck down by polio at age 39. Warm Springs is the fascinating story of Roosevelt's painful journey from despair back to wisdom and leadership. Kenneth Branagh gives an emotionally raw, courageous performance as FDR, estranged from his wife, Eleanor (a near-luminous Cynthia Nixon), and his political guru (David Paymer) while ambivalently seeking rehabilitation at Warm Springs, a broken-down spa in the backwoods of Georgia. Mired in misery, misanthropy, and drink, Roosevelt is coaxed back to civilized behavior and a glimmer of altruism by the spa's ailing, folksy manager, Tom Loyless (a remarkable Tim Blake Nelson), and the ministrations of a progressive-minded, physical therapist (solid work by Kathy Bates). Word of Roosevelt's improvement in the buoyant, mineral-rich waters of Warm Springs draws other polio victims--some of whom endure terrible discrimination and misery while traveling—to the spa. In time, these hopeful, all-ages paraplegics form a community that inspires a sense of mission in Roosevelt, setting the stage for his return to the political arena. Surehanded, 80-year-old veteran director Joseph Sargent (on a roll following his lovely, 2004 cable movie Something the Lord Made) has made a pitch-perfect and intimate, historical drama one never wants to see end. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

A arrogant man humbled by Polio to lead a Great Nation
Warm Springs portrays President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Kenneth Branagh and his Wife Eleanor by Cynthia Nixon in what his struggle was having Polio bringing him to his knees to unsuccesfully return him to the man he was, and becoming sensitive to the needs of others! An emotional and thought provoking presententation of a man who became one of our greatest presidents!

Who knew?
He was already rich, but before he became famous, FDR, at the start of his political career, was struck with polio. This is common knowledge today. What is not known, and truly should be, is the struggle he undertook first to cope with, then to master, the disability that would ordinarily have torpedoed his career. Generally underappreciated as an actor, Kenneth Branagh, turns in a brilliant performance in his portrayal of an FDR never really glimpsed before - broken, bitter, depressed, then increasingly hopeful and courageous, and finally, triumphant. Toward the end of this movie, when asked if polio has changed her husband, Eleanor as acted by Cynthia Nixon smiles and says emphatically, "Oh yes... it has."

An argument can be made that polio made Roosevelt. His quest to walk again brought him into contact with people he would never have otherwise met. Good people of all races, classes, and age. It opened his eyes to the needs of his countrymen, and made him as compassionate as any wildly successful politician can be. Franklin and Eleanor, though their marriage was far from perfect, grew together into America's first power couple. No longer the arrogant, detached rich boy, he went on to become one of America's greatest presidents in one of America's most trying eras, and she one of America's most influential women. Nearly 60 years later, their legacy is generally ignored. Watch this inspiring, beautifully made movie and you will never forget them.

warm springs
i watched only part of warm springs, and was amazed at the protrayal and insight into FDR's gradual acceptance of his disability. especially so in the depiction of his dreams of normalcy. i'm crippled too(although not as much as he)and i thought i was the only one who dreamed of walking with a bounce in my step again, or running alongside my daughter. i thought it was my typical denial again. the writers and kenneth banaugh however deoicted the feelings of despair and some hope so accurately that i don't feel so alone or strange anymore.