Blog number 4

The John Adams Movie was actually pretty good, I liked it, it was pretty realistic, and in general really good. However I was expecting more brilliant orration from John Adams, according to the paper we read he spoke for two hours, the movie was not even that long, and lots of it was focused elsewhere. I understand that they couldn't show a full two hours of John Adams talking, but it didn't seem like they even tried to give the impression that he spoke for two hours, at a time. The dialogue of the congress in the movie seemed to be primarily one-liners designed to insult the other members of the congress, and while it is more entertaining than long monologues, it doesn't give an accurate impression of the continental congress at all. I really think they should have had more of John Adams speaking about independence, in the congress. I think that the best scene involving the congress was when Mr. Dickinson had his long monologue before leaving the congress, intentionally allowing the Declaration of Independence to be ratified in his absence. The bad dialogue at congress is my only serious compaint though, the rest of the movie seemed excellent. The dialogue at home was pretty good, and it seemed like the characters actually cared about what was going on. The scene with the cannon going past the Adams' house was pretty good even though it was completely made up. It showed how much some of the colonists were worried about the british when Mrs. Adams grabbed her husbands gun and powder horn at the sound of an approaching army. I also liked the scene at home where the children were molding musket balls, as far as I know this is pretty accurate historically, and in the movie it showed the children's support of the revolution, and their father. The scene with the letters was just weird, but it did show Mrs. Adams love of her husband, and his love for her. I also liked the scene with the smallpox vaccination, it was pretty realistic, and seemingly accurate, it also shows what smallpox was like, and helps the audience better understand its threat to people. It also is a good intro to the scene with Adams' daughter sick, because it shows what can happen to one who becomes seriously infected with the pox. My favorite scene in the movie was the scene after the battles of Lexington and Concord, when Adams rides to the scene, and finds the battle over. It is an accurate depiction of the situation after a battle, the wounded and the dying are screaming, and so are their friends and family, it's a powerful scene and I really liked it. The scene also seems to show that Adams' place is not as a soldier, as if his lack of military service needed justification. I also like the scene shortly after the battle of bunker hill, when the wounded are carried past the Adams' house, it also shows the suffering of the soldiers, which was great, and shows that well known people were dying, not just obscure seperatists. All in all the movie was pretty well done.