When "Wilson" debuted back in 1944, it was a box office bomb. Yet, inexplicably, it received 10 Oscar nominations and took home five of the statuettes. What gives....why the disconnect? Well, I think Wilson was the beneficiary of patriotism...at least within the film industry. During the US involvement in WWII, AMPAS (the Oscar folks) promoted many of the more patriotic films...and a few decent films received Oscars when better, but less overtly patriotic, movies didn't. This film and "Mrs. Miniver" are both great examples of films winning Oscars that probably wouldn't have had the US not been at war...but this is especially true of "Wilson", as it was a long but rather uninspiring film...and I think the cinema going public WAS right about this one.
My dislike of parts of "Wilson" is because the film seems more concerned with being a propaganda piece than giving us a true portrait of the man. Wilson was the guy who seemed more than happy to keep black Americans 'in their place' and was also the man whose campaign slogan for the 1916 election was 'He kept us out of the war'....and then promptly declared war on Germany just a month into his second term! Clearly, he was a flawed man and history today does not see him so fondly as the movie does...especially because you can't help but wonder if they world would have a better place had the US stayed out of WWI.
Instead of showing the flaws, the film goes the other direction...practically elevating Woodrow Wilson to sainthood! He simply doesn't make mistakes in this film and often he is shown (literally) with an angelic chorus singing in order to hammer home just how godly and perfect the man was. Basically, this is an overly sentimental whitewashing of the man...more meant to bolster support in the States both for the war and the new United Nations.
The bottom line is that if you want to know about Wilson, you could either watch a 2 hour and 38 minute film and get a somewhat sanitized and one dimensional portrait...or you could just read about him and learn who he really was.
My dislike of parts of "Wilson" is because the film seems more concerned with being a propaganda piece than giving us a true portrait of the man. Wilson was the guy who seemed more than happy to keep black Americans 'in their place' and was also the man whose campaign slogan for the 1916 election was 'He kept us out of the war'....and then promptly declared war on Germany just a month into his second term! Clearly, he was a flawed man and history today does not see him so fondly as the movie does...especially because you can't help but wonder if they world would have a better place had the US stayed out of WWI.
Instead of showing the flaws, the film goes the other direction...practically elevating Woodrow Wilson to sainthood! He simply doesn't make mistakes in this film and often he is shown (literally) with an angelic chorus singing in order to hammer home just how godly and perfect the man was. Basically, this is an overly sentimental whitewashing of the man...more meant to bolster support in the States both for the war and the new United Nations.
The bottom line is that if you want to know about Wilson, you could either watch a 2 hour and 38 minute film and get a somewhat sanitized and one dimensional portrait...or you could just read about him and learn who he really was.