Movie Review: John Adams

Independence day is this week. What better time to be informed and even surprised by revelations in a DVD about one of our founding fathers?

Based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-Winning biography, John Adams, the HBO miniseries has recently come to DVD. The miniseries offers a revealing look at John Adams, second president of the United States, and the brutal path to American independence.

In the book and the miniseries, John Adams is revealed as a principled attorney whose path leads him to become one of the most distinguished of a generation of revolutionary leaders.

Watching this DVD with my family, we were often struck by the gritty all too human struggle from revolution and into Independence. This is a not a romanticized version of events.

Adams knew the revolutionary period would become idealized to to the point of myth and advised against it. In the DVD, John Adams muses that one day people will think that,

"Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them, Franklin, Washington, and the horse, conducted the entire revolution by themselves."

Sometimes, truth is more interesting than fiction. During this the month of Independence day read the book, listen to the book, or watch the video and be amazed.

If you decide to watch the DVD, turn on the “Facts are Stubborn Things” feature of the disk to see fascinating pop up facts on John Adams during the movie.