Warm Springs

It may be HBO and not TV, but this is still a TV movie -- offering familiar characters and predictable inspiration, however well done. It tells the story of FDR from the time he was stricken with polio till he staggered on braces and the arm of his son to the podium of the 1928 convention to nominate Al Smith, touching all the bases with apparent truth. Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon make a believable Franklin and Eleanor, and many recognizable and welcome actors populate the subsidiary roles. The docudrama may be inherently limited as a form, but for me is intrinsically more engaging than cartoons or action films. Journeyman director Joseph Sargent probably does his best work since The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (just as John Frankenheimer did with Path to War, in my opinion.) So even while we wait for the next season of The Sopranos, HBO is indeed a premium channel. (2005, HBO/T, n.) *6+*