Eleanor - The Radical Roosevelt Deserves Her Own Worthy Film

By Peter Dreier, Truthout | Op-Ed

Eleanor Roosevelt, an important historical figure, has never been depicted in movies, including "Hyde Park on Hudson" accurately. It's about time!

Many younger Americans probably know very little about Eleanor Roosevelt, and if their first encounter with her is the new film Hyde Park on Hudson, what they'll learn is incredibly misleading and inaccurate.  Other films - including Sunrise At Campobello (1960), the two-part Eleanor & Franklin HBO mini-series (1976), Eleanor, First Lady of the World (1982) and Warm Springs (2005) - have depicted different aspects of her life. But Hollywood can't seem to make a film that accurately portrays the depth and influence of Eleanor's radicalism.

Hyde Park on Hudson focuses on the relationship between her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt (played by Bill Murray) and his distant cousin Margaret "Daisy" Stuckley (Laura Linney) during a weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of England are visiting the Roosevelts at their second home in upstate New York. The film shows FDR and Stuckley having a sexual love affair, although many historians believe that their relationship was primarily a flirtation. Given its focus on the affair, perhaps it is not surprising that the film treats Eleanor (Olivia Williams) primarily as a ceremonial helpmate whose major function was to help FDR negotiate the social rituals of being president. In the film, the biggest controversy Eleanor dealt with was whether to serve hot dogs to the British royals.