Grade: A… When I was younger, I never cared much to learn about history. I found it meaningless and boring then. Then, I always had the mentality of “Who cares about the past? I am more interested in the future.” As I matured I learned to value the past and I was eager to learn more about the history that helped create the fabric of America.

The history of America is quite fascinating. Learning about how America was founded inspired me to take more of an interest and gain a respect for our nation’s rich history. Being the movie fan that I am, I have seen many great movies that deal with the birth of America. Some of them that come to mind are The Patriot, Glory, Lincoln, and somewhat recently, Hamilton.

This year, Angel Studios released Young Washington to add to the list of great historical movies. Young Washington is about George Washington’s time in the British Army prior to 1776, when America was founded. Washington (played by William Franklyn-Miller) was often ridiculed and judged by his small size. Nobody took him seriously and nobody thought of him as a leader. Washington even doubted himself at many points during his British campaign. His transition from someone loyal to the crown to the famed American general took several years but he eventually achieved his goal. One of the best lines in the movie is when Washington’s brother tells him over a game of chess “A pawn can take a king.” While the line is fictional and the real Washington was never told that, it became a powerful mindset for Washington to learn in order to achieve what he set his mind to.

Young Washington is indeed a “smaller picture” compared to the summer blockbusters that have been released but the movie acts bigger than it needs to be. The battle scenes are intense and action packed, the acting and cinematography are incredibly well done. Overall, it is really a movie that is not to be missed.

I had to wait a while to see it because of the weird showtimes that are currently available but when I finally got the opportunity, Young Washington blew me away with how entertaining it is. It is easily one of the best movies of the summer, if not the year. It is very much worthy of a trip to the movies to take in some important American history!