(2008) There are many fine, noble intentions and words expressed in this historical, didactic docudrama, HBO's seven-part mini-series, based on David McCullough's book, raising the life and career of John Adams (portrayed by Paul Giamatti) - who served as a revolutionary, the United States' first ambassador to its former adversary England, its first vice president under President George Washington, and the second president of the new republic - out of obscurity, placing him into the pantheon of his fellow founding fathers.

Filmed at Colonial Williamsburg (as well as in other locations in the UK and Hungary), stolidly engaging as historical re-enactment (including numerous inaccuracies) but rarely enthralling, the series was ably directed by Tom Hooper from a screenplay (mostly) by Kirk Ellis (the style reminding me of Gore Vidal's historical fiction or something from Readers' Digest) with stirring score from Rob Lane; Tom Hanks was an executive producer. Yet it doesn't rise above the ornamentation of occasion - largely lacking the gripping tension of human drama - other than to salute a patriot, vulnerable to vanity and ambition, with artificial pomp and circumstance.

In part I, "Join or Die," Adams (35 years old) comes across as a courageous man of integrity, defending Captain Thomas Preston and his eight British soldiers, in an atmosphere of seething anger against King George's army of occupation in the Boston of 1770, against charges of having fired into a crowd (lawful assembly or a riotous mob?), shooting dead five citizens in cold blood on State House Square.

Aware that taking up the cause he will be reviled and despised by the public (his law practice falls off), Adams nonetheless holds to the principle that in a land of laws anyone accused of a crime deserves counsel. "I am for the law, cousin," John says to his rabble-rousing relation Sam Adams (Danny Huston): "I intend to prove this colony is governed by law." During the trial, Adams sums up his case before a jury of New England men: "Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." By imploring his fellow men not suffer "a shipwreck of conscience," Adams earns a "reputation of impartiality" and receives an offer of appointment to advocate general with the British admiralty; at the same time he's urged by Thomas Paine and others to run for the Massachusetts Council to which Adams replies: "I have no talent for politics."

However, open rebellion of the Boston tea party eliminates both options, resulting in new royal edicts with harsh measures, disbanding the Council and stripping the colonists of their rights. Chosen for his prudence and probity to be one of five representatives from Massachusetts for the new Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Adams leaves behind his 30-year old pregnant wife Abigail (Laura Linney) and their three children (though by 1774 their last child Thomas was actually in his second year), where worried about parochial partitioning of vision among his colleagues, he argues for conscience over obedience, for natural rights that are "inherent and essential rights … from our Maker." In a rousing speech he declares: "Liberty will reign in America!"

Part II begins with the adjournment of the first assembly of Congress in 1775, having "achieved nothing" with its members displaying gifts of oratory and self-importance, followed by Adams back on his farm in Massachusetts, teaching his son John Quincy (looking older than eight years) the art of making manure. Perhaps here there is an intentional suggestion of irony with our contemporary legislators: a story about liberty should take some creative liberties, but overall this production prefers to remain within the safe confines of traditional interpretation.

Abigail, who wisely admonishes her husband against impatience with those less intelligent, counsels him to persuade his fellow delegates into believing they have made up their own minds rather than been coerced into accepting contrary decisions. Following the blood shed at Lexington and Concord, Adams leads the debate against Pennsylvania's Quaker John Dickinson (Zeljko Ivanek), advocating a conciliatory approach to the British crown, for redress and winning back rights.

Ben Franklin (Tom Wilkinson), also of Pennsylvania, who in the Congress appeared to side with Dickinson in opposing Adams, reminds his fellow revolutionary that speaking aloud what one thinks is a bad habit as is insulting others in public: "Politics is the art of the possible." Urging Adams to seek Virginia's vote, Franklin coaches the younger man: "Diplomacy is seduction in another guise."

Having recommended Col George Washington (David Morse) to command the Continental Army, Adams complains that Congress hasn't provided the necessary supplies, armaments (rifles lacking flintlocks to fire), and money for re-enlistments. Speaking on behalf of her sex and African slaves, Abigail reproves her spouse for their being treated with a similar contempt in Congress as King George has shown the colonies; later she will wonder of the sore cost to the colonies: "Could it be punishment for the sin of slavery?"

In a proclamation from the king, the colonists are warned that "for those who persist in their treason," their punishment will be hanging, to which Franklin replies: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall hang separately." With Boston liberated from British General Gage's siege but New York facing Gen Howe's threat of utter destruction, Dickinson and others continue to appeal for a middle way while Richard Lee of Virginia proposes a resolution of independence. Adams, counting on the reputation and popularity of the gentleman from the most influential colony of Virginia, lays upon a reluctant Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane) the responsibility of "using the elegance of your pen" to compose a declaration for the committee, which includes Franklin, whose emendations and emphasis on independence rather than emancipation displease the author.

Fear versus hope: Dickinson's grim view of apocalypse without Britain as the colonies' protector encounters Adams's argument that in the midst of a revolution he and his fellow Americans have a unique opportunity to choose their own system of government for themselves: "While I live, let me have a free country." With the preliminary vote 9-4 in their favor, Adams insists on getting unanimity by means of personal persuasion.

In these first two episodes, the scenes that left the strongest impression on me were a man's being stripped naked for tar and feathering and the method of inoculation against small pox when Abigail and her children submit themselves to the risky vaccination.

Part III, "Don't Tread on Me," covers four years, from 1777 in Massachusetts to 1781 in Holland. In need of more French money and ships, Congress assigns Adams to become Dr Franklin's aide in Paris to secure military and trade alliances, contrary to Abigail's wishes for him to remain with her as a model for her children and a wellspring of her happiness. Per her request, the father takes his son John Quincy with him. On the voyage their vessel engages in combat with a British man-of-war; the pair witness the amputation of an officer's wounded leg.

Upon his arrival Adams learns from Franklin, playing the role of a rustic in his coonskin cap, that the treaty with France is a fiat accompli. Engaged in his own experiments with science and ladies, Franklin advises Adams, who has no command of French, to acquaint himself with "indecency of thought and action," as is customary among Parisians, and be "patient and accommodating." Moral John has no time for the arts, politics and war demanding his entire attention; pressing forward with demands for more naval power, he speaks too bluntly for French aristocratic tastes. Frustrated with his failures and his wrangling with Franklin, which sours into animosity (Franklin complains to Congress that Adams lacks the character for delicate diplomacy), Adams departs for The Netherlands after Franklin is named sole minister plenipotentiary to the court of King Louis XVI.

Back home in confidence to Abigail, Dr Benjamin Rush, family friend and the army's surgeon general, speaks of the deplorable conditions in the hospitals while Gen Washington and his men struggle to survive in Valley Forge without much assistance from Congress. Abigail wrestles with her own misgivings at having received so infrequent correspondence from John (embarrassed to communicate his disappointments), fearing the loss of his affection.

With news of defeat suffered by the French navy at Newport and the loss of Charleston, Adams, who becomes seriously ill, cannot convince the Dutch of America's credit-worthiness. At 14 John Quincy - fluent in French, unlike his father - goes to Russia as secretary to Mr Dana. Following the American victory over Gen Cornwall at Yorktown in 1781, the British admit defeat, allowing the colonies to go their own way. "A man may give offense," says Adams, "and he may still succeed."

Dialogue in domestic scenes sounds unnatural, often with Adams yelling at one or more children to get to bed. The Adams children look no older four years later.

Stubbornly persistent, in part IV, "Reunion," Adams receives recognition for his new country, a treaty, and a loan of $2 million at 5% interest from the Dutch. Separated for seven years, in 1784 John beckons Abigail sail to Paris to be with him as he continues to pursue trade agreements in Europe for commerce with the Americans; she leaves the children with tutors while John Q attends Harvard. The couple offers the charming, exceptional Thomas Jefferson their grand residence as a second home following the loss of his wife Martha and daughter.

Appointed minister plenipotentiary to the Court of St James, Ambassador Adams and his wife, before taking leave of Paris for Great Britain, entertain Dr Franklin, about to return to Philadelphia to assist with writing the new constitution, who bestows a parting shot: "The English love an insult … proof of one's sincerity." With regard to a new law of the land for the republic, Jefferson, still smarting from the editing of his Declaration, asserts that one generation has no right to bind others to its laws and prejudices. "You, sir, are a walking contradiction," responds Adams, before gently chiding his friend and collaborator for his "excess of faith in his fellow man." As they watch the first demonstration of a hot-air balloon lifting men off the face of the earth, Jefferson turns to Adams, who had expected the experiment to fail, remarking on how caution blinded him to unimagined possibilities.

Though from his initial introduction to King George III Adams and the monarch established concord, sharing a mutual respect, John and Abigail soon tire of the pomp and circumstance with "bowing and scraping and wigs"; he resigns his post, and they return to Massachusetts to reunite with their grown children as the first federal election is about to take place. Persuaded by Dr Rush to run for vice president - "We need men who will unite us" - Adams receives the second most ballots in the Electoral College after a unanimous vote in favor of Gen Washington for president. Of his office, for which he was constitutionally granted but one duty, presiding over the Senate with the authority of casting a vote only in the event of a tie, he says: "In this I am nothing but may be everything."

Arguing for a grander title for the president to ensure respect and elevate his status in the eyes of the world, at the beginning of part V, "Unite or Die," Adams suggests "His Highness the President" and "His Esteemed Majesty the President, Supreme Commander in Chief" among others, which are summarily discarded by Congress with the reminder that the Constitution forbids any title of nobility for its officers; behind his back some referred to Adams as His Rotundity the Duke of Braintree.

As a Federalist in Philadelphia, 1790, Adams's belief that "Authority is our only protection" is shared by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (Rufus Sewell); though Abigail, his wisest counselor, criticizes his vanity as "tainted by foreign courts," being in need of patience and correction. As Secretary of State Jefferson - a Democratic-Republican, advocating sovereignty of the people, opposed to a strong executive wielding too much influence over a weak Congress - hotly debates Hamilton's ideas of establishing a federal bank to adopt all debts of the states because this would lead toward a concentration of power in a centralized authority of the government, encouraging avarice and greed, dividing northern states from those of the south.

Not privy to the cabinet discussions, excluded from Washington's inner circle, Adams sulks at his insignificance. When Adams hears Jefferson rejoicing at the uprising in France against the Bourbon king and his court, reports of which bring to mind barbarity rather than liberty, the man of Massachusetts cannot continence the Virginian's vision of revolution spreading to all other monarchies and opposes his friend's exhortation that the United States and all Americans support the French revolutionaries in kind. When war erupts between Great Britain and the new French republic, Adams advises neutrality, to which Jefferson replies: "impartiality is always partial," in this instance favoring the British (also Hamilton's bias). No longer certain that the United States is a republic, Jefferson resigns from Washington's cabinet to devote himself to a life beyond politics.

Hoping one day to have the luxury of resuming a private life of farming and law practice, Adams reluctantly gives his blessing to the marriage of his daughter Nabby to Col William Smith, his private secretary, but refuses to intercede on his son-in-law's behalf to obtain a government position; however, in 1794 he procures an appointment for John Q (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), without consulting his son in advance, as minister to The Netherlands.

In the Senate following rancorous debate over the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, the yeas versus nays has deadlocked at 15-15; casting the deciding vote in favor of ratification, Adams (though expressing the preference of the president) gets publicly castigated as a monarchist. Voluntarily choosing to leave public office after two terms, in 1796 George Washington's exemplary decision to future American presidents for the first time creates a vacuum of power, since he had twice been elected without opposition. A field of candidates vies for the office with the results from the Electoral College giving Adams (71 votes) a slim margin of victory over Thomas Jefferson (68), Thomas Pinckney (with Hamilton's backing) of South Carolina (59), and Aaron Burr of New York (30). Adams promises justice, peace, and to uphold the Constitution.

Along with the first chapter, the final two episodes were my favorites. In part VI, "Unnecessary War," President Adams asks Thomas Jefferson to voyage to France in hopes of averting a war with the former ally - "Surely you and I can rise above the din of politics" - but his partisan vice president declines, arguing that the threat is within, not from without in France or England. In the nation's capital of Philadelphia during 1797 with reports of French vessels firing upon American merchant ships and dissension in his cabinet (some critical of president's lack of military experience), Adams staunchly remains neutral, consistent with his predecessor's policies, believing the country too fragile for foreign entanglements. Abigail urges John: "Hold firm to the course you have set."

When France's Talleyrand sends Adams's envoy Marshall back home with dishonorable demands for bribes and loans, Adams shares the communication (known as the XYZ Correspondence) with Jefferson who expresses concern for Hamilton's desire to provoke war.

Anticipating conflict with France, Congress overwhelmingly (actually by small majorities of the Federalist party) passes the Alien and Sedition Acts (enacting broad restrictions on freedoms of speech and press), ostensibly for the country's security, intended to root out spies and other internal and external bad actors, but also targeted at naturalized citizens who gravitated to the Republican party); Adams hesitates to sign the bills into law. Would he ship out the entire population of Frenchmen from America along with anyone else harboring contrary opinions, asks Jefferson, who says the bills are "trampling on the Constitution," attempting to remove the rights they'd fought for. Prefacing her reaction by saying they wouldn't have printed such libelous lines against Washington, Abigail rails at "the vile falsehoods written about you" in the newspapers, referring to him as a balding, toothless, crippled hermaphrodite; Adams dismisses the contumelious commentary with a quip that Washington is toothless. Nevertheless, Adams signs both bills into law.

Having acceded to the Federalists' demands of raising an army under Gen Washington's command, though his second-in-command Gen Hamilton actually took charge, Adams disbands the military force following France's reversal of fortunes with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte (having gone from monarchy to anarchy back to monarchy) and Washington's death, realizing Hamilton's insane "dream of empire" to seize all the territory east of the Mississippi River.

During the transition of the seat of power from Philadelphia to Washington City, Abigail expresses her repugnance at seeing "Half-fed slaves building our nation's capital." Meanwhile, William Smith departs the Adamses home in Peacefield, leaving behind his wife Nabby (Sarah Polley) and children, to improve his prospects following disastrous investments with speculators; son Charles, become dissolute with alcohol and foolish financial speculation, receives his father's harsh, never-to-be-forgiven renunciation: "I will not find fault in my behavior to excuse his."

In the fall of 1800 news arrives from France of a peace treaty, vindicating Adams's refusal to give in to the militarists in his own party, but not before the election returns give Jefferson and Burr (both Democratic-Republicans) more Electoral College votes (73) than Adams (65); after 36 ballots in the House of Representatives (and word that Jefferson is willing to acquiesce to Adams's recommendation to "quiet your revolutionary notions") a new president takes office, though Adams declines to attend the inauguration of "Mister Jefferson's coronation." Instead, he declares himself Plain Farmer John of Peacefield, boarding a common coach as an ordinary citizen traveling north to New England.

Some obvious parallels from Adams's tenure can be drawn to President George W. Bush's administration.

With 26 years left of his life after the conclusion of his presidency, part VII, "Peacefield," picks up the thread in 1803 with Nabby's having to undergo, without anesthesia, surgery for breast cancer; her husband has not yet returned.

Abigail suggests that John write his memoirs to "correct people of their misimpressions." Charles's wife Sally and her children remain at Peacefield as Jefferson's two administrations rapidly pass on to James Madison's presidency. After 54 years of marriage, Abigail suffers a fatal stroke, leaving John still another eight years during which, following Dr Rush's advice to be magnanimous, he renews correspondence and pen-friendship - "your afflicted friend" - with Jefferson.

In 1825 Adams rejoices at his son John Quincy's becoming the sixth president of the United States of America. Standing before John Trumbull's huge new canvas of an assemblage of the Founding Fathers (all of whom except Adams and Jefferson are deceased) in Philadelphia for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, painted as a tribute to the upcoming 50th anniversary of the nation's birth, Adams pronounces it as a depiction of "very bad history" since no such congregation of all the signers ever occurred. On July 4th, 1826, an incredible coincidence of deaths did occur with the passing of the last two men portrayed in the painting, though John Adams, not knowing that his old friend was in a similar state of mortality, breathed his last words: "Thomas Jefferson survives."

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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