| JOHN ADAMS |
 2008 - USADirector: Tom Hooper
- Reviewed by guest reviewer Hanne
The film starts with the beginning of the revolution, when British soldiers kill some Bostonians, who scared them and threw snowballs at them. Adams defended them, and the trial is the first episode. Some people might turn off their TV already then, for it is more factual than most have ever seen or heard—or cared—to know. Some might have hoped for some excitement in the span of the story—for instance the Boston Tea Party is only mentioned. The series covers about 50 years, ending when Adams dies as a very old man in 1826. It is quite correct historically, even though Adams was in Europe two times, many years total, but for the flow of the plot it was changed. John Adams is played by Paul Giamatti, and he does a wonderful job. Though John Adams was a superbly intelligent person, who could write better than most, and was a great politician, he probably was not a very charming man and might not have had very many friends. He is only upstaged by his wife, Abigail, played by Laura Linney. She steals every scene she is in, from the moment that shows her despair and loneliness while she washes her windows crying in fury and longing for John, who is away in Europe. In my favorite scene she walks down the stairs in their French Palace on the way to the opera. John is overwhelmed to see his dear puritan, proper, and boringly-clad Boston wife swoosh down the elegant stairway dressed in a fashionable gorgeous French dress, with a huge hairdo, feathers and a low-cut front. She is stunning, and knows it, but is still sort of shy. There are many great scenes in the movie, partly because of the stunning photography. John and Abigail Adams, in company with their friend Thomas Jefferson, go out to see the first hot air balloon take off over Versailles—Jefferson exclaims that it is the first time that man leaves Earth. Many years later—back in Massachusetts—their daughter is having a cancerous breast removed without anesthesia. The camera shows the scared and suffering parents sitting side by side on a sofa down on the ground floor, while the camera is on the floor, where the surgery takes place. Very moving! As president Adams has many problems, among others moving into the President's House, that is barely habitable. The city pictures are stunning. I did have problems figuring out who many of the politicians were—and I know more about American history than most "normal" people. George Washington (David Morse) looked just like his picture on the dollar bill, and was about as stiff—he looked way too old! Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin had a great part and took full advantage of it. But aside from the mentioned people, I had problems figuring out who was who in Philadelphia. The costumes were stunning and they changed through the long period of the movie. In the beginning Adams wore a wig, and took it off, as soon as he got home! Then later he had his own hair done in many different ways, which extremely well researched. Abigail did not change as much as John, but after her time in Europe she never went back to the prudish former outfits. John Adams is slow with lots of serious dialogue. I doubt that many of my friends will agree—but I give the series a full pie for all that it covers, and for the marvellous photography, costumes, and scenes. |
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HBO took on a huge task and risk in making the 7-part miniseries about the second American president—the president that seems to be forgotten (as John Adams himself declares with fury in the film).
