Movie Review: Young Washington
In recent years, Angel Studios has emerged as a true cinematic powerhouse, producing Christian and family-friendly films of extremely high quality. Some, like 2023’s Sound of Freedom, have enjoyed box-office returns on par with traditional big-studio blockbuster releases.
While their productions are far from perfect, Angel’s well-produced, uplifting films are a welcome change from the old low-budget, “son, all you need is Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior” sorts of evangelical films that dominated the early 2000’s. After a shaky start in 2021, I think it is safe to say Angel Studios has finally found its footing.
As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, I went to see Angel’s latest fare, Young Washington. The film, true to its title, chronicles the early years of George Washington prior to the American Revolutionary War. With an excellent performance by the British William Franklyn-Miller as Washington, the cast has strong support from Sir Ben Kingsley (Governor Dinwiddie), Andy Serkis (Gen. Edward Braddock), Kelsey Grammer (Lord Fairfax), and Mary-Louise Parker (Mary Ball Washington),
Young Washington does a superb job chronicling the rise of George Washington from a middling tenant farmer to a popular colonel in the colonial militia during the 1750s. Against the backdrop of the French and Indian War, we see young Washington learn lessons about pride, ambition, and friendship, as his experiences temper his reckless tendencies and mold him into a leader who is sturdy and dependable.
The Filmmaking
The quality of Angel Studios’ filmmaking has reached truly superb levels, matching and even exceeding that of traditional studios. While most historical films today are grey and dull (I’m looking at you, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon), Young Washington is colorful and textured. The costumes are beautiful and period-accurate. There are plenty of stunning wilderness shots, and the cinematography is clearly a love letter to the bounty of the American continent on our country’s 250th birthday.
Whoever made this film clearly loved the source material. They are not merely using Washington’s life as an excuse to shove in political messaging; they are interested in portraying the world as Washington experienced it and telling Washington’s story.
The casting and acting are superb. The screenplay was delightful; I found myself more emotionally invested than I had anticipated. Washington undergoes a real character development that feels far more authentic than what you’d get in many big-budget tentpole movies.
The History
The history of the film centers on the critical year of 1755, when the French and Indian War broke out over a dispute between France and Britain for control of the Ohio Country. (Which, in those days, encompassed parts of modern-day West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.) Washington, a young surveyor, is tasked with leading an expedition to eject the French from Fort Duquesne (modern-day Pittsburgh).
Washington sees the mission as an opportunity to prove his mettle and obtain a long-coveted commission in the royal army. But pride causes him to make some fundamental mistakes that inadvertently trigger a war with the French. Disaster soon follows, leading Washington to resign in disgrace. It is only when Washington accompanies General Edward Braddock as aide-de-camp on the latter’s famously catastrophic march into the wilderness to take Fort Duquesne that Washington redeems himself, emerging to become the hero Americans know and love.
Whenever a historical movie comes out, people always ask me if it’s accurate. I have often said that I don’t really care if a historical movie is accurate in all its little details, so long as the big-picture stuff is handled well—I am willing to forgive historical inaccuracies if it gets us films like Braveheart or Gladiator. Thankfully, there was little to forgive in Young Washington. The writers knew this material very well. I was consistently surprised and pleased by how historically accurate the film was down to the most minute details, like the location of the bullet holes in Washington’s uniform and the physical posture Edward Braddock was in when he died. It is so nice to see filmmaking by someone who loves the history and takes it seriously!
If I had one gripe I would say at times the film leans too heavily into stereotypes of British snobbery and arrogance (which, as my Anglophile friend and fellow-author Avellina Balestri has demonstrated in her works, is far from accurate). I think it has been pretty conclusively shown that the idea that British soldiers were too dumb or stubborn to hide behind trees in battle is a myth popularized by American folklore. And men like Braddock and Dinwiddie were hardly the obnoxious, pompous snobs the film paints them as. But… you know, whatever. It’s the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Of course, we are going to have some fun with British stereotypes around July 4!
My Recommendation
When I saw Young Washington, I was deeply moved at several points. For one thing, it made me really appreciate the insane levels of effort, struggle, and sacrifice that went into building this country. And it admirably demonstrates how important virtue and leadership were valued before our society became bureaucratized, valuing paper credentials over character.
The film’s brutal war scenes were skillfully juxtaposed with elegant depictions of Virginia’s high society on the cusp of the revolution. As I watched the scenes of Washington studying Seneca, courting his love interest at a country ball, or learning the art of gentlemanliness from his half-brother, more than once I found myself thinking, “Man… we used to have high civilization.” And I think that observation aptly summarizes the entire English experience in the New World—their persistent attempt to hack a refined civilization out of the rugged wilderness.
I highly recommend Young Washington. It is well-acted, well-produced, and well-written, leaving us with a story that is educational and morally uplifting. It is a tale about the human capacity to persevere in the face of overwhelming obstacles, a message especially suited to our country’s 250th birthday.
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