You are the only American I have ever liked!

Rating: 7/10 (25 June 2020)

I must hand it to Disney Studios! They managed to fool me for a while with this film! To begin with, it felt like a sincere and sensitive story concerning the making of a Mary Poppins based film by Walt Disney. The author P.L.Travers was portrayed as a stiff lipped Brit. Her main fictional character was a magical nanny and yet somehow, she seemed to be set against the movie being made as an animation or a musical film. It seemed that Walt Disney and his people had to manage the difficult and unyielding attitude of 'Mrs. Travers'. Thankfully, she wasn't portrayed as a totally boring person and had some absolutely hilarious insults up her sleeves; the kind which are funny provided you are not at the receiving end. So, all in all, this felt like a movie with some heart.
However, this is not a perfect film. My first problem with the movie is of course the lies and misrepresentation of a lot of facts & events. I always find that off-putting in a movie, especially when even without reading up any history about it, I can figure out the lies all by myself during the watching of the film. This is lazy lying! If you want to lie to the viewers, at least work harder so that unless they do a background check, they can still believe it! My other gripe is that the characterization of Mrs. Travers was a bit too heavy handed and that of Disney a bit too generous. The latter was to expected since it's a Disney film. What I found more disturbing was that after a certain point, the meanness and sarcasm of Travers felt a bit too forced even though the creators tried to justify it by telling the story of a very sad childhood. A difficult childhood does not justify rudeness with honest and hardworking people who are simply doing their job.
The film does raise an important point though. Which is better; truth or fantasy and well-intentioned lies? I'm not much for the fantasy genre, where everything gets taken care of through magic. I believe that even if life is harsh, children deserve to know the truth as much as the adults because that's the only thing that would prepare them for any future misfortunes. However, I also believe that children must be taught not to let themselves become too cynical. They must have a bit of fun now and then. This might enable them to deal with the vicissitudes of life better. So truth and detachment are both necessary tools for our survival kit; tools that adults need as much as children.
So, despite its shortcomings, the movie did give me food for thought since once again I watched life from two entirely different points-of-view. For this reason and because it reminded me not to be too cynical, I'm glad I watched it.