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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: HBO
Salesrank: 22270
Released: August 30, 2005 |
| Our Price: $3.44 |
| Used Price: $1.18 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Description of Warm Springs:
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
Warm Springs Reviews:
A gem 
2009-05-28 - "Warm Springs" is one of those rare, precious gems that you stumble upon by accident. The story is very imspiring with excellent performances by Kenneth Branagh, Cynthia Nixon, and Cathy Bates. It is well directed, with beautiful photography and a very inspiring story. The story never lags and is very inspirational.
An Excellent Biopic Of The Struggle America Never Saw.
2009-05-16 - Four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branah ("Henry V," "Dead Again,"
"Much Ado About Nothing," "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," "William Shakespeare's Hamlet," "Love's Labour's Lost") stars as Franklin Deleano Roosevelt in his pre-presidential years when he was stricken with polio. Branagh does very well in this film, sporting the real Franklin Deleano Roosevelt's American accent. Rounding out the cast is Cynthia Nixon ("Sex And The City") as Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Alexander as FDR's domineering mother and Academy Award winner Kathy Bates (Best Actress, "Misery") as Helena Mahoney, the physical therapist. Great film. Rated TV-PG for mild language.
Moving drama 
2009-05-13 - Kenneth Branagh shines in this biopic telling how he began his recupperation and the events that would launch him into the Oval Office. The reason why I knock a star off is that I feel this to be the first act in a grander story that should have been told with it. FDR is a true American hero and this film rectifies any previous glossing over of his time at Warm Springs.
Uplifting and Inspirational
2009-03-10 - This film is very well done. We get to see a side of FDR that most folks never knew existed, and it seems to provide a foundation for the great things he later went on to do as our president. This is NOT an account of Roosevelt's political career, nor a documentary of the New Deal. In many ways that is appropriate; FDR on the job was as ruthless as needed to be for the times he faced. Great Film.
An excellent insight into FDR'S metamorphosis.
2008-11-01 - "Warm Springs" is a masterpiece of story-telling about the changes FDR experienced through his struggles with polio and his other demons. It shows his very human side and his transformation from a vain, egotistical alcoholic and womanizer into the much-loved and admired president that he eventually became. This movie is a masterpiece of acting and story-telling. I enjoyed it very much and am so happy to add it to my movie library.
