In Young Washington, the future first president of the United States faces war, betrayal and impossible choices. Source: Australian Catholics.
The action here focuses on the early years of George Washington, well before Independence.
It is 1753 and Washington is wounded in a battle with the French, who were claiming the land beyond the Ohio mountains. The report is that his militia have been destroyed.
The narrative then goes back to the 1740s. We see George as a boy, experiencing grief at the death of his father, living with his stern mother, relying on his half-brother, Lawrence.
Refused entry to a school, George is educated by Lawrence in land surveying, in military skills and, especially, in reading classic literature.
George, aged 20, goes into the Ohio mountains, which is the boundary between the English colony and the French occupying ambitions, surveying the land, surviving harsh seasons.
George has ambitions to serve as an officer in the British Army but faces continual rejection.
Then he meets the governor, played by Ben Kingsley, supportive of George but refusing any official status in the British forces. What follows is a number of excursions into the Ohio mountains, an encounter between Washington’s Virginia militia and the French troops, their looking down on the young Washington.
There are several battle sequences, much hand-to-hand fighting, ranks standing and shooting at each other, and the intervention of the Native Americans with axes and other weapons.
The presentation of the Native Americans is particularly interesting. They initially help Washington, providing information about the French and their hardships as prisoners, but they also side with the French in several of the battles.
The final part of the film shows the heroic Washington, riding through the enemy, reaching his Virginia militia.
There is final information about Washington and his future before the final credits, a future we know more about – an independent America.
Young Washington: Starring William Franklyn-Miller, Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis, Kelsey Grammer, Mary-Louise Parker. Directed by Jon Erwin. 121 minutes. Rated M (Mature themes and violence)
FULL REVIEW
Young Washington (Australian Catholics)
