Our hero and title character is George (Donald Holden). He is quiet with deep, penetrating eyes in which we can see the world, but know nothing about it. George is a hero. He knows this and it affects his manner. Although he speaks little his great purpose is to help others, to save lives. From birth he was cursed with an unusually soft skull which means he has to wear a helmet at all times and is never allowed to go in water. His physical ailments, however, do not deter him from trying to be bigger than himself and his town.
Pining after him is Nasia (Candice Evanofski), who left Buddy (Curtis Cotton III) to be with someone more mature. The joke being that she's thirteen and relationships for her are defined in terms of when two people begin kissing one another. Buddy is resentful of the breakup, especially because George is his best friend (though I doubt the solitary George reciprocates the feelings), but then Buddy does preach sermons wearing a dinosaur mask so maybe Nasia had a valid point. Rounding up their gang are Vernon, a hulking boy who hangs out with the younger crowd probably because he simply can't connect to others his own age, and Sonya, who wears boys clothes, thinks bad thoughts, and is the making of a sociopath if I ever saw one.
As I said a child dies, and this film examines the lengths that this group will go to to conceal the fact, all the while dealing with the despairing guilt that they inadvertently killed one of their closest friends. Spoiler: It's not George. He deals with the fact in the most peculiar way, in that he dons a jersey, a cape, and his helmet and tries to overcompensate with heroism. He succeeds, and it is very uncomfortable watching the way that he handles the praise for saving a life. This film makes the case that people are inherently good. Fear will stifle good judgment, but eventually reason and a desire to heal wounds will lead those astray to correcting the mistakes of the past.
There is something of a small miracle in George Washington. The adults in this film were appallingly bad in their performances (save one, but her screen-time was so small as to be hardly worth mentioning). Along with the gang of kids there is a group of railroad workers that form tentative bonds with the teens. All are played by white, obviously trained stage actors who simply could not deal with the script primarily directed towards those who can naturally speak Ebonics. All of the kids but Sonya are black, and I don't know if it is deep-seeded racism (I hope not) or if they are all simply naturally gifted actors, but these children were unbelievable in the naturalism in which they brought to this film.
I almost wish that the movie did not have the plot that it did, because watching this young cast made up almost exclusively of unknown first-timers was such a joy to simply revel in the ways that they interacted with each other. A good portion of this script seemed improvised, but the ways in which these kids filled and interacted in this space, this hopelessly poor and stagnate place, was so convincing I wanted it to be unending. I think a better film would have been one in which Green dealt more fully in the ways in which these kids handled extreme poverty, violence, and generally the place they live in. There was much to be looked at and I was a bit thrown by the more grandiose messages of the director.
Some of that did come through clearly, and quite beautifully. The movie is held together by the skeleton of Nasia's narration which is lyrical and profound and offers much insight into these characters who are far more complex than they let on. I really wish that Green had taken more chances and completely put his faith into his young actors because they are far more talented than him or their experienced colleagues. The miracle is in the ensemble in its small and touching way.
2.5/4
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