Films on British Royalty and Politics

My question for the week is: Why do we have great films about British royalty and politicians, but no great films about their equivalent, American presidents?

Ellen and I saw the edited version of the King's Speech Friday night. It was a wonderful movie and deserved its awards. It's nice to see a great movie about a simple topic with a morally beautiful and sincere heart involving friendship, dedication, and fundamental human decency. What I mean by this last phrase is that the characters involved are certainly not perfect, but they try very hard to be good to others and to overcome their weaknesses and problems. They become entangled in difficult situations and work to resolve them humanely and with good will.

I have noted this quality in other films about the royal family and, more broadly, politics in Britain. Three in particular worth mentioning are The Queen, Mrs. Brown, and one of my all-time favorites, Amazing Grace. I should also mention Henry V with Kenneth Branagh, my favorite Shakespeare play set to film; I've never seen a live theatre version of it. All of them portray royalty and politicians in complex, sophisticated ways that impart a certain sympathy for their difficult positions. They are not power-hungry, manipulative, or exceedingly vain and ambitious, which is the streotype for politicians or royalty. They are human beings with interesting strengths and weaknesses placed in difficult public situations with no clear way forward.

There are others out there that I've heard of but not seen. This website has a nice list: http://enchantedserenityperiodfilms.blogspot.com/2008/02/movies-of-british-royalty.html. Some are undesirable because they're too much about sex, but many seem quite good. I would like to see a few more.

So, why don't we have equivalent films about Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, etc.? I suppose I have not seen many films about politics in America. Perhaps I'm afraid they will be so badly done that I don't want to. There was a period when I enjoyed The West Wing TV show, at least the first season or so. But then I saw a couple of episodes where it was just pure nasty politics and hatred, which seemed pretty superficial and shallow. Yes, people engage in political strategy designed to hurt opponents, but that is not all they do and it is not the most important thing they do, and it is far from the most interesting thing they do.

Despite all the negativity and hostility that one observes in the media about American politics, almost anyone who works on Capitol Hill or in the White House will tell you that relationships among people in Washington are not nearly as bad as they seem. Lots of important work gets done, compromises are struck, friendships among rivals exist and even flourish, decorum generally prevails, humor exists and even thrives, and flawed people do the best they can under difficult circumstances, with imperfect results. Why can't we show that? Perhaps there are some movies that do so. I would love to be enlightened.

And, if you haven't seen Amazing Grace, go see it. It's the best film about politics I've ever seen, and the best film about a moral cause I've ever seen. The producer of that film, Michael Flaherty, has also produced a number of other excellent films (Narnia films, Nim's Island, Holes). He set out explicitly to do so: to bring good, moral, high-quality family films to Hollywood. He has, astonishingly, succeeded. He doesn't just make Christian films; he makes good Christian films well, in the heart of an industry and culture that, well, struggles morally. He recently gave the forum address at BYU. It is one of the best speeches I've ever heard. You can check out the MP3 version here: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1944. It is completely worthy of your time and would make a nice FHE for older kids.