Faith of My Fathers

Based on the memoir of the same name, this story is the familiar one about United States Senator John McCain who survives a prison camp in Vietnam during his tour of duty.
The actors are somewhat unknown but familiar. The film was produced by Arts & Entertainment network which is probably why the tone of the violence was toned down in retrospect and some might say not enough.
I can't imagine what really happened to John McCain during his time there. I have not read his book but I do imagine that it was far more worse than the film portrays to be.
I think in all that the film does it's best despite probably a limited budget and a cast including an actor, Shawn Hatosy, who does a remarkable job in bringing to light about a man who is both complicated and likable.
The scenes in the prison camp were probably toned down immensely as if not to turn us off from the movie.
As a granddaughter of a POW during World War II, I can't imagine the horrors of the camps. For John McCain, he was offered amnesty and freedom long before he was actually released.
This film shows how his character was already defined by his family make-up, his first marriage, and his relationship with his military father.
Anybody else would have longed to escape such nightmarish conditions but JOhn would rather lie than give up his men or break the honor code even if it meant torture and killing.
This film can and should be shown to everybody in schools and the book should be read as well.

This was an excellent movie and should be seen by all Americans. John McCain has a legacy left by his father and grandfather that is instilled in him.

This effective dramatization of Sen. John McCain's ordeal in the "Hanoi Hilton" prisoner of war camp for 5 years was actually released a few years ago, based on his memoir of the same name. It also deals delicately with his relationship with his father, both remote and adored, and the clearly the strongest influence in his life. It is very well acted, with a cast that I didn't recognize with the exception of Scott Glenn. In an interview with Sen McCain, he touches lightly on the accuracy of the set of the prison, and his feelings about seeing it.
Even if you read the book, the video is very worthwhile.

As others have noted, to create a film that could be shown on television, the violence that McCain and other POWs experienced is toned down. That distorts just what McCain went through before he signed the statement his captors were demanding. Keep that in mind as you watch this film. If most people can't stand to merely watch what he went through, what must it have been like to have endured that torture?

McCain was a POW for five and a half years, from October 27, 1967 until March 14, 1973. During that time, Jane Fonda made her infamous July 1972 visit to North Vietnam, getting photographed aiming an NVA anti-aircraft gun, something that can only be taken as an endorsement of the North Vietnamese dictatorship. The following year she would tell the New York Times, "I'm quite sure there were incidents of torture... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic. I believe that's a lie."

Fonda was the liar. Grim as it is, this film is the truth.

--Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

While not the highest quality of movie ever made, this movie does a tremendous service in highlighting the integrity and character of John McCain. Whether or not you agree with him politically, this is a movie that should be should be seen by every American that is voting this fall. This tells the story of McCain's naval service with much of the focus on his time in a North Vietnamese POW camp. McCain deserves our respect and honor for the service he has provided to this country, regardless of whether he gets your vote.