Jon Erwin’s “Young Washington” exceeded expectations in its opening weekend, taking in $19.7 million against a projected $15 million, drawing a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and even winning some grudging respect from the mainstream movie industry. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman, as institutional as film critics come, praised aspects of the Angel Studios production and called it “competent enough to create that crisp tug of schoolkid patriotism the books we read as children provided.”

This level of success is rare for films that emerge to compete with Hollywood from the by-roads of “values-based” entertainment. In the 250th year of our nation, there is clearly an audience for entertainment that treats America’s Indispensable Man with civic pride and unapologetic nationalism. At its best, “Young Washington,” which examines George Washington’s early life and military career during the French and Indian War, meets that demand while remaining pretty faithful to the historical record.

Most Americans know George Washington as the commanding general of the Continental Army or the first President of the United States. “Young Washington” focuses on an earlier chapter of his life, when such success was far from inevitable. It follows a 22-year-old Washington as he attempts to distinguish himself in a society where status and prestige often opened doors that talent alone could not.

The picture’s dramatic crux is Washington’s woodland ambush of a French-Canadian delegation led by Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. This event has a historic status similar to that of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: There is broad agreement about who the good guys were, but the basic facts of the incident — and the apportionment of blame in an action that ended with multiple homicides — are still hotly disputed. Many Washington biographers fall over themselves to acquit the future president, but “Young Washington” nicely depicts the ambiguity of that day.

This is the most compelling aspect of the film: It does not portray Washington as a leader who succeeds at everything he touches. He is given the rank of colonel and quickly suffers a major defeat at Fort Necessity. The film does not brush past this, instead treating it as a momentous turning point. Washington is forced to reckon with the consequences of failure and confront his own shortcomings. Rather than depicting George Washington as a natural-born leader, the film shows him becoming one.

Leadership is rarely the result of uninterrupted success. Looking back, it’s easy to view historical figures as destined for greatness from the beginning. The reality is that success is never linear, even for the most revered leader in American history. As the film repeatedly suggests, failure can be a great teacher, and setbacks need not be permanent. Qualities associated with great leaders are developed through adversity long before they are recognized in moments of victory.

Before Washington fought to establish a new nation, he honed qualities that would later become closely associated with the American character: perseverance, constant self-improvement, and a belief that a person’s future should not be determined solely by his birth. At the Mackinac Center, we strive to uphold that spirit of steadfast commitment to principle and resilience in the face of challenges.

America has long been defined by the idea that individuals can rise through self-invention and determination. Washington faced many closed doors, but he continued audaciously searching for opportunities to prove himself. In that light, it becomes easier to understand how he would later successfully lead an unlikely revolution against the most powerful empire in the world.

“Young Washington” succeeds in highlighting how much of Washington’s story took place before the achievements for which he is remembered. The George Washington who emerges from the film is not the larger-than-life figure we encounter in textbooks but an ambitious young man growing into responsibility. “Young Washington” reminds us that distinction is neither inherited nor inevitable. It is earned.

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