The DrsC finished watching the PBS miniseries Atlantic Crossing and we enjoyed it. It is the story of the Norwegian Crown Princess Martha, and her interactions with the FDR White House beginning after Norway was invaded by the Germans but the U.S. had not yet gone to war. It is a coproduction of the U.S. and Norway public broadcasters.
Martha, her husband the Crown Prince, and her husband's father the King, are all played by competent Norwegian actors. FDR is played by Kyle MacLachlan, best known for roles in Twin Peaks and the original Dune film. Mrs. Roosevelt and the various White House personalities are played by American actors.
When the Scandinavian characters are speaking to each other, they speak Norwegian or sometimes Swedish or Danish and you get English subtitles. The Americans speak English and, in its Norwegian version, are subtitled in Norwegian. In either version, if you hate subtitles, you won't like Atlantic Crossing.
The paralyzed-from-the-waist-down FDR is portrayed - history suggests accurately - as a married womanizer who "came on" to various women he encountered, particularly the married Martha. That FDR was a charmer appears to be historically accurate. Whether he was physically able to have sex with these women is deliberately left unclear and may be unknown.
Martha leverages FDR's affection for her to influence him to support the war effort and in particular Norway's part therein. He did this at some political risk as there was a strong U.S. isolationist movement in 1940 which wanted no part of another damned European war. FDR died during the last year of the war at age 63, and Martha died in 1954 at the age of 53. Photos of the real Martha suggest she was no great beauty, but perhaps she was also a charmer.
Atlantic Crossing is not history in the strictest sense, but much history is woven through it. The dialog isn't what the actual persons said, but the historical events are almost all true, except for some minor changes to improve the drama flow.
