drjgardner

This film had so much potential it could have been great, but it's spoiled by poor direction and by Sean Penn channeling Dustin Hoffman in Rain man to do his performance. The first half of the film is simply horrible, but when Benicio del Toro appears, from then on it begins to take shape, slowly but surely. It its better moments it reminded me of the Big Chill - what happens over time to people who were once so close.

This series is probably one of the very best about Jefferson. Other media celebrate him, but this one looks at the good and the bad. Nonetheless, it has many errors. These are some of the errors in the series-

Most estimates are that the U. S. in mid-18th century was 1 million, not 2 million people as they say.

The Jefferson family is in the upper classes, but not the very top class as they say. This was reserved for the Carters, Byrds, Lees, Randolphs, Wayles, etc.

People in Virginia were not either slave or master as they say. Many were small farmers, or merchants, or traders, and there were even small shopkeepers in the larger cities. In addition, there were lawyers (Jefferson was one), physicians, ministers, teachers/tutors, etc.

The idea that Jefferson is devastated by his fathers death when Jefferson was only 14 is partially true. What is truer is that the death of a parent was very common in those days, in fact, it was extremely uncommon for both parents to be alive when a child reached adulthood.

They claim England taxed the Colonies to support their international wars, however, it's more likely that they taxed the Colonies to pay for the debt from the French and Indian War, since the taxes started after the war.

They say the Powder Alarm of April 1775 was designed to tell colonists that the Governor would no longer protect them. Nonsense. The powder was taken to prevent colonists from seizing it and using it against the British.

"Jefferson's words" are continually talked about, but in fact, there is nothing original about these words, they are found in many other places, and there is some question about who actually wrote the Declaration in the first place. Jefferson is certainly a key player, but so are Adams and Franklin and Lee.

A big deal is made of the "Quartering Act" but in fact, quartering was not specific to the Colonies. It was used by thew British in Ireland, India, the Caribbean, etc. And other countries (e.g., France, Germany) also used it.

These are just the errors in the first episode. I could continue but you get the point.

In summary, this is a good start at portraying Jefferson in a more factual manner, but the series is spoiled by so many errors and misinterpretations.

The most important thing about this film is that the co-stars whom you think are going to be part of the show barely show up and on the rare occasion that they do, most have little to do or say. Leave 15 minutes before the end of the show and you'll miss most of them.

OK. But what about the rest of the film? It's OK. Some good and some bad stuff. All told, a little too long in the tooth and few characters you can like or identify with.

Why give it a 5 instead of a 2 or 3? Because it's one of those very rare films that will disappoint you right up until near the end, and then turn it around. An almost impossible task, but this film does it.