No, it's not a biopic of the president. George Washington is a slice of life film about a bunch of pre-teen kids growing up in the South. It's hard to describe this film, since it's not really about story, or even ideas or a theme. It's about mood, and tone, and location, and atmosphere. It's very good.
Most of the chracters are black but it's not really a movie about race, although that stands in the background of every scene. Whites and blacks in co-exist in the community and are friends (possibly because they both have something in common: they are all poor), but race is always there, in the background. A movie like this says more about race relations in America than most of films that are obstensibly about that subject.
The movie drops in on the lives of its characters during a summer. The kids are too young to work, so they have a lot time to think and talk. The tone of the movie is lazy and slow paced, just as their days must be. Well, except for George (Donald Holden). George has a genetic condition where the plates on his did not completly close, meaning that he must wear a hat, or preferably a football helmet at all times or he might be seriously hurt. Because of this, he obviously stands out from the crowd. He is more self-aware than most of people his age and has some unusual ideas. The film does not mock him for his goals and aims, no matter how weird they may seem.
Throught the summer, a lot of events happen, most of them unexpected, but never outside the realm of what happens in life. The most interestign parts of the film for me was just looking at the backgrounds, the rundown houses and trailer parks the characters live in. There is an odd kind of beauty to all of this, and George seems to kind of get it.
Often when writing film reviews it's helpful to compare the film in question to other movies, so that the reader may be able to determine what genre or style the film may be in. This one is totally unique- it's not Stand By Me, or neo-realist, or really drama. It's totally itself.
George Washington does have some flaws, mainly in the acting. Although the kids in the film (Holden especially) do well in most scenes, occasionaly they sound fake, particulary in the long, existancial talks they sometimes have. I'm not sure their is anything that Green could have done about this, as acctors at that age usually just don't have the chops to pull such scenes off. It's never a huge problem but it does get occasionaly get in the way of the film. The beginning of the film is a little confusing as their are a lot characters introduced and it's sometimes hard to remeber who they all. But no film is perfect (not even Casablanca) and this are really minor problems. If you want to see a film that is like no other film you have seen, this is it.
George Washington (2000)