Lexington, KY - Normally in this column I focus on films that play on the big screen. But the efforts of one TV network-HBO-to produce movies for the small screen has yielded some truly spectacular results. The quality of these pictures rivals anything you'll find in your neighborhood theater. Three I've seen lately deserve special mention.
John Adams
This seven-hour miniseries on one of the nation's forgotten founding fathers premiered on HBO last March. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by David McCullough, it chronicled the life and times of America's second president (Paul Giamatti) and his wife, Abigail (Laura Linney).
The birth of the United States was not a foregone conclusion. It could just as easily never have happened. The players were flesh-and-blood men and, in the case of Abigail, women who could disagree violently, struggle mightily over the issue of independence, but ultimately put their lives on the line for the cause of freedom.
Adams is a fascinating choice to be the centerpiece of the story. The movie brings to life this man of integrity and great passion who could also be egotistical and abrasive. He was not a larger-than-life icon like Washington or an aristocratic elite like Jefferson, but he looms large in our history.
This is a film of vivid detail. Mob violence, primitive medical care, disease, filth, hunger, heat and cold are all portrayed with gritty realism. The acting, from top to bottom, is superb. Giamatti, Linney, Tom Wilkinson as Ben Franklin, Stephen Dillane as Jefferson-all are at the top of their game. David Morse creates a striking George Washington, who literally and figuratively towers over his contemporaries.
The final disc of the series features an engrossing documentary, "David McCullough: Painting with Words." It follows McCullough's journey to bring the Adams story to the printed page, and also shows how faithful the film was to his commitment to history as something you not only understand but also feel.
At the recent Emmys, "John Adams" received 23 nominations and won 13 awards, the most ever won by any program in a single year, and they were well deserved. Seven hours may be quite a commitment, but I highly recommend renting "John Adams." I think you'll find it rich and fascinating-well worth your time.
Recount
A much more recent historical event, in this case the contested presidential election in Florida in 2000, is the basis for another well-crafted HBO film. You may feel, as I certainly did going in, that watching a replay of that event would be like reliving a nightmare. But the movie is effective precisely for that reason. We know how it's going to turn out, but "Recount" manages to make the drama and the suspense achingly real.
Credit director Jay Roach and writer Danny Strong for artfully blending actual news footage with powerful acting by Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson, Dennis Leary and Laura Dern as actual figures caught up in the drama. It relies on transcripts of legal proceedings, stays true to the events and still tells a compelling story.
By exploring the simple act of voting, "Recount" gets at the essence of democracy. The vote is so basic and so necessary to the functioning of our society. When the election process breaks down, due to human or technological error, deliberate or accidental, the results can be catastrophic.
Clearly, the film is unambiguous in concluding that the 2000 presidential election was hijacked in Florida-that for two months in the fall of 2000, our electoral system went beyond occasionally flawed to totally off the rails. But those who choose not to see it for partisan reasons will miss a stirring piece of filmmaking.
Band of Brothers
In 1942, a bunch of raw Army recruits went through basic training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia to prepare for parachuting into Nazi-occupied Europe. They were the men of Easy Company, 101st Airborne, and their story became legendary. It was the basis for the best-selling book by Stephen Ambrose, which took these young men from basic training through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, to Germany and finally to Eagle's Nest, Hitler's hideout in the Bavarian Alps.
HBO and executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks fashioned this saga into one of the most compelling historical dramas ever captured on film. It initially aired in 2001 and among its many awards were six Emmys, including one for outstanding miniseries.
It's available for rental and, like "John Adams," it requires a bit of commitment to watch all 10 hour-long chapters. But it's a fiercely faithful account of soldiers who were present at some of the most critical moments of the war.
Friendships are forged and then as quickly shattered by arbitrary bullets, shrapnel, grenades or artillery shells. There is no sugarcoating the effects of a close-in grenade explosion, or the terror of bleeding to death on the battlefield, or the bone-chilling agony of the winter in the foxholes at Bastogne.
The film focuses on Maj. Richard Winters (Damian Lewis), Capt. Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) and a host of other real-life heroes of Easy Company. If anything, the lone failing of "Band" is that the cast is so large it's easy to lose track and fail to bond with the characters.
"Band of Brothers" sets a new standard for war movies. It reportedly was made for $125 million, making it the most expensive miniseries ever. And because it is based on first-person accounts, it strives to be an accurate reenactment of actual events. Sometimes painfully so. Courage is on display alongside tragic blunders, heroes and villains are not always clearly identified by their uniforms, and the best laid plans can be sabotaged by the most random of events.
You may not feel like fighting World War II all over again. But like "John Adams," "Band of Brothers" rewards the viewer who sticks with it. And HBO is to be commended for undertaking-and pulling off-this film achievement.