Bill Murray never ceases to amaze me.
He plays FDR in the newly released Hyde Park on Hudson. (Which by the way is currently playing only in NYC. Hopefully that will change.)
The story line has many different threads. FDR's unfaithfulness to his wife and family is obviously central, but so is the visit of the King and Queen of England to America (the first Royals to do so, by the way.)
Years ago as a cadet at West Point - which is just over the Hudson River from Hyde Park, I visited the President's vacation home - where he and his wife are both buried - and was struck by many things. Certainly the beauty was evident, everywhere, but there was something else.
I was struck by how truly handicapped he was. What we take for granted in handicapped accessibility, seemed to be something pioneered at Hyde Park. Curbs, ramps, toilet areas, dining room table, on and on...
And the miracle of the whole thing was that America did not see FDR as a "cripple", to use the term of the day. They saw strength and vitality - which is what this film also portrays: how to sell the public relations of something that is not to a nation as though it is.
Another word for that is deception. I remember thinking as a young man, as I visited Hyde Park, that here was the most powerful man in the world who couldn't get on and off a toilet seat by himself. Here was a leader for the ages who failed to lead his family day by day in truth. And here was a man who made a sacred vow to save a nation, all the while dishonoring the sacred vows he made to his bride and family.
The film may very well be worth watching on many levels.
Though based on events, if we DO see "truth", it'll most likely be on the well-practiced decades-old deception level.
Den
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