Faith of My Fathers

A&E has become such a repository for slow-blinking “talent” (see Gotti, Victoria) that it’s easy to forget the network’s higher-minded lineage. With Faith of My Fathers, a low-key, nuanced adaptation of Sen. John McCain’s memoir about his five-plus years as a Vietnam P.O.W., the network redeems itself and then some. Deftly skipping between scenes set in a Hanoi prison and flashbacks to McCain’s privileged upbringing as the son of a Navy higher-up, Faith confines its focus to retelling what he endured and the genesis of those traits that enabled him to endure it. It doesn’t hurt that Shawn Hatosy embodies and almost eerily resembles McCain, right down to the steely glare. The movie suffers from a handful of the usual Vietnam-flick flaws: the enemy is presented as one-dimensionally evil, plus we’re pretty sure that some other song besides “All Along the Watchtower” was played between 1966 and 1973. But Faith makes up for these minor pratfalls by avoiding both the hackneyed soldier-bonding and “I love you too, pa!” moments. Which isn’t to say that any movie, serious or otherwise, couldn’t use a few extra pratfalls. After all, meanie Vietnamese torturers + slipping on banana peels = funny. Ask anybody.