Young Washington

Rated PG-13 • Theaters

Who is America’s William Wallace? Our red-white-and-blue Braveheart? Certainly the Land of the Free began and endures thanks to the sacrifices of countless brave hearts, but Americans don’t typically claim one near-mythical figure put the colonies on his shoulders to carry us into a homeland.

Young Washington, the new Angel Studios film from director Jon Erwin (I Can Only Imagine, Jesus Revolution), depicts that hero’s origin story, arguing this role in our country’s lore should be reserved for our warrior-leader George Washington.

This film, which depicts Washington’s life before he became the Revolution’s hero, begins in the early 1740s on the Washington family’s Virginia plantation in the days after the death of young George’s father. Unable to return to school, George receives his education at the feet of his much older half-brother Lawrence (John Foss), an adjutant general in the Virginia militia.

Fast forward 12 years, George Washington (William Franklyn-Miller) fails to obtain an appointment as an officer in the British military because he’s not a “gentleman.”

Intent on proving his leadership ­ability, Washington offers to survey uncharted lands belonging to Lord Fairfax (Kelsey Grammer). Washington also faces competition from ruling-class suitors for the attentions of high-society head-turner Sally Cary (Mia Rodgers).

This story of Washington’s early life revolves around three expeditions: the surveying mission, his assignment by Virginia Lt. Gov. Robert Dinwiddie (Ben Kingsley) to lead a militia force to expel French troops from a region the British were claiming (which became the only time in his career Washington surrendered), and the Battle of Monongahela (near present-day Pittsburgh) in July 1755. The always-­dynamic Andy Serkis plays Edward Braddock, the British major-general doomed in that battle.

Washington’s fierce loyalty to his men inspires us, as breathtaking cinematography plunges viewers into icy rivers and dense forests that don’t spare the ill-equipped trespasser.

The film has few expletives, no sensuality, and the battlefield violence shows little blood. It is surprising, however, that the plight of slaves gets thin treatment in the film. Indigenous peoples have greater visibility, but only to show that their stake in the lands they had long inhabited mattered little to Western powers.

Nevertheless, the film instills a renewed respect for the father of our nation and depicts the virtues that make a great leader. Washington is shown as an outsider who must work within the system to overcome it. The film salutes his ambition to command and his ­warrior’s bravery in the face of death—as well as the sine qua non of his success, humility.

“Failure is the tutor sent by God,” Washington’s mother (Mary-Louise Parker) tells him. “If you don’t learn from it, you fail twice.”

It seems probable that Erwin will follow up this film with a sequel tracing Washington’s rise to commander-­in-chief of the Continental Army and the birth of our nation out of the Revolutionary War. But even if he doesn’t, this movie is captivating.

The story of Young Washington is how we Americans once conceived of ourselves: as wild as a river surging through the Ohio Territory but also as determined in course and destination.

How do we see ourselves now?