Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Just the other day I was viewing a documentary on the History Channel all about the White House.  In it, it was stated that the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was responsible for the largest renovation of the White House after a piano leg fell through the floor while his daughter was playing it.  I had just receive the HBO original movie, Truman, and sat down to learn even more about this President that I didn’t know before.

Truman opens in 1948 as Truman is on the campaign trail making a whistle stop tour of the U.S.  It is, of course, the infamous campaign where all the newspaper headlines were incorrectly declaring his rival the victor.

The film then goes back, not to his early life, but just to his service in WWI and his proposal to Bess.  Keep in mind, Truman was born in 1884, so by the time he was active in the military in WWI, he was already in his thirties.  There's no real background of him before this point.  Truman was reluctant to marry Bess and have her face the fact that her husband might not return home.  They waited until after the war before marrying.

The rest of the film is choppy like that, jumping ahead abruptly and picking up at various points in his life with little explanation why.  It's up to the viewer to discern what year it is by what's going on.  This was the hardest part of the film for me as there were times I wasn’t sure exactly what year it was.

Truman tried many different careers and seemed to fail at them all.  However, his integrity wouldn’t allow him to walk away from debts and even in the face of a failed clothing business in Kansas City.  Instead, he worked to pay off the debts.  Eventually, he became involved with the political machine in Missouri led by Tom Pendergast.  Truman tried to maintain his integrity as a judge even as he was backed by those who didn’t share his scruples.  It was no surprise that Pendergast was reluctant to put Truman anywhere else, but he did support Truman being appointed to head a list of public works projects during the Great Depression.

Eventually, Pendergast backed Truman for the Missouri Senate seat that was open, after having rejected Truman as a possible Governor or Congressman.  Even as he spoke out in Congress, he seemed to gain little attention.  Bess didn’t like Washington and instead spent most of her time in Missouri, where their home was still with her mother.  After being re-elected in 1940, he gained notoriety for rooting out corruption in the military as well as cost-saving measures which made him quite popular.

Truman’s designation as Roosevelt’s Vice-Presidential candidate in 1944 was part of a deal.  When Roosevelt died only 82 days into his fourth term, Truman was just as surprised as anyone else.  He faced monumental decisions as WWII was still being waged.  Following the War, Truman’s policies were surprisingly progressive, especially for a southerner.  He advocated for a National Health Care Plan as well as signing legislation that effectively began the Civil Rights Movement, among other acts.  Truman also had the courage, after being re-elected by the skin of his teeth, to take on popular wartime General Douglas MacArthur and remove him from command in Korea after statements MacArthur made were seen as a challenge to the authority of the Office of the President.

The film itself is hit and miss.  It was informative in many ways in that I learned a lot about Harry Truman than I ever knew before.  The performances are terrific.  Gary Sinise portrays Truman and does so surprisingly well.  He gets the mannerisms and voice down quite well.  One of the best scenes demonstrating his down-to-earth demeanor occurs when he visit’s the White House kitchen to deliver the news of the victory in Europe.  Diane Scarwid portrays Bess, who’s distance from the Washington social scene is portrayed not in a negative light, but rather as just part of her desire to live a simple life.  Although Truman wanted to be in politics, both of them show quite well that they rejected the baggage that seemed to go along with it.

However, the film just didn’t flow as well as I’d expected it to.  I don’t blame the actors at all.  It has to do with the production and I found myself wishing it had been so much better.  The film jumps around without indicating the date or any clue as to why we’ve settled in to look at this point of Truman’s life.  Perhaps Truman’s life and decisions call for more depth than can be presented in just over two hours.  It seemed like major events were glossed over.  Deciding to drop the atomic bombs on Japan were something Truman always stood by in his life, yet there’s no real time spent on it here other than the possible influence of what one of the kitchen staff says.

There are better documentaries out there on Harry Truman.  Although the performances are good, I just can’t see turning to this film for a real feel for Truman’s life.  Many important things he did as President are glossed over, and even though I learned much more about his Presidency than I knew before, I know there was even more to some of those events.  Unfortunately, I suggest skipping this one and hunting down other documentaries out there.  Better yet, read David McCullough's novel which was the basis for this film.  At 992 pages, it will liklely have the depth this is missing.


Other "political" movie reviews:
 
An Inconvenient Truth ~ The Big One ~ Blue Gold: World Water Wars ~ Born on the Fourth of July ~ Bowling For Columbine ~ Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy ~ A Crude Awakening ~ Democracy University: Volume One ~ The End of Suburbia ~ Fahrenheit 9/11 ~ Farmingville ~ FLOW: For Love of Water ~ The Ground Truth ~ Giuliani Time ~ Hacking Democracy ~ Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train ~ The Hunting of the President ~ The Insider ~ Iraq For Sale ~ Jesus Camp ~ J.F.K. ~ JFK: The Case for Conspiracy ~ Lake of Fire ~ The Laramie Project ~ The Murder of JFK ~ No End In Sight ~ Outfoxed ~ Outrage ~ Religulous ~ Roger and Me ~ Senator Obama Goes to Africa ~ Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion ~ Terrorstorm ~ This Divided State ~ Truman: The 33rd President ~ The Unforeseen ~ War Feels Like War ~ War Made Easy ~ What Would Jesus Buy? ~ With God On Our Side


© 2009 Patti Aliventi

Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD