My Idea #16 for celebrating America 250 is to watch the new movie Young Washington, which just came out last Friday July 3. I viewed it on July 4, 2026, on America’s exact 250th birthday. What a fabulous way to celebrate America 250! I got to see the story of the “Bulletproof George Washington,” which I’ve been sharing repeatedly with my children through my 30 years of homeschooling, come alive!

I highly recommend the movie! It covers the time period from when George Washington is age 11 until he’s in his early 20s, in 1755. We see George growing up after grieving the death of his father, helping his mother on the farm, being blessed by the mentorship of his older brother Lawrence, and coming of age while mastering the trade of surveying. He grapples with the fact that he has a lower social status than he would like.

He gains a classical education despite never going to formal school (hooray for homeschooling!) by reading classics recommended to him by his brother and Lord Fairfax. We see him falling in love with Sally Cary, who ends up becoming, spoiler alert!…Sally Fairfax (not a true spoiler really since we all know that George married Martha).

The best part of the movie is when George shows courage and selflessness in his leadership during the French and Indian War. First of all, he fights in the war despite being ill from dysentery. Then, under a showering of bullets, he risks his life to find the surviving Virginia regiment and bring them to safety during the Battle of Monongahela. He rallies them to form a rear guard which allows them to retreat safely. I suspect that it was through this de facto leadership of that battle that he earned the trust and admiration of so many people, which prepared him to gain the role as General of the Continental Army for the Revolutionary War. He was an aide de camp at the time, and not a commander, yet he rose to the occasion. He survived this battle miraculously, after having two horses shot out from under him, four bullet holes through his coat, and one in his hat. God was watching over him! We see the Native Americans involved in the battle talk to him and tell him that they felt the Great Spirit protected him.

I enjoyed the cast of characters, the acting, the costumes, the pacing, the cinematography, everything about it. I didn’t want it to end! William Franklyn-Miller plays a handsome and likable young George Washington. (Could that be just the one drawback of the movie, that Franklyn-Miller is better-looking than George ever was?) Kelsey Grammar does a swell job of playing Lord Thomas Fairfax, Mia Rodgers plays a charming Sally Cary Fairfax, Mary Louise-Parker shows a devoted Mary Ball Washington, and Ben Kingsley has a convincing accent as Lord Dinwiddie. I love that even with the brief scenes of Mary Ball Washington with her son George, we see the power of mother mentoring. When George is discouraged after having to surrender in the battle at Fort Necessity, as then hearing that Lawrence has died, we see Mary tell him to trust in God, acknowledge that God is protecting him, and learn from his failures.

The violence portrayed is enough to show you how brutal war is. None of the violence shown is gratuitous. I’ve read comments online saying that a lot of the battle scenes were created by AI. I couldn’t tell, as I am not that astute of a viewer. I don’t know if they were or not, but if they were, they did not distract me as looking fake.

If you want an inspiring movie about the Father of America, go see it! You will not be disappointed. It definitely brings history to life in a beautiful way! It’s just such a gift from God that every American can look to such a great man as George Washington as the Father of Our Country. He wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t give up, he was courageous, he believed in God, he was kind, and he was good. He did not let power get to his head. He could have been king of America, after gaining so much popularity, but he declined. He was protected by God so that he could be our first president. This movie, more than anything, will help you see that. I give it 5 out of 5 stars! I look forward to the sequel, which I hear is in the works. Will it be called General George Washington? That’s my bet, and then hopefully we’ll have a third movie to make a trilogy, called President Washington. Hey, maybe we can have a fourth, called Farmer Washington, to make a quartet!

It’s definitely worth watching on the big screen! Go here to see how you can see the movie with a special deal called the Angel Guild Membership. (This is not a sponsored post, I just like what Angel Studios is doing and want others to support them too.)

Now for some bonus material:

Watch below to see how a native German, Diederick Hoogstraten, was inspired by Alex P. Keaton’s character on the TV show Family Ties to become fascinated by American history and Ronald Reagan’s conservatism. This fascination brought him to the point of being a co-writer for Young Washington. Thank you Diederick for helping to write the movie!

This video shows a historian roundtable reacting to the movie.

This one shows one historian telling us what parts of the movie are historically accurate and what isn’t.

Then this one is fun behind the scenes summary.

Then here are two of the stars talking about the movie.

Want more movie recommendations? Go here.

Want more Celebrate America 250 ideas? Go here.