Filmed in New Orleans, Faith of My Fathers is based on the story of Lieutenant Commander John McCain's experiences as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years during the Vietnam War, interleaved with his memories of growing up in a heritage rich with military service. Shawn Hatosy stars as John McCain, with Scott Glenn as his father, Admiral Jack McCain. Of the North Vietnamese captors, Chi Muoi Lo plays the keyman "Prick" and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays prison commander "Cat".
John McCain flies his jet from a carrier on a bombing mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam. As a warning buzzer announces incoming missiles, McCain stays with the bomb drop, but is hit by a missile. He lands in the water and is pulled ashore by an angry mob, and taken prisoner. Asked to give information, he gives out the names of the Green Bay Packers rather than of his squadron. In flashbacks, his father tells of how his submarine escaped destruction in World War II, and told him not to worry about his grades, as his father and grandfather "really fooled them" by rising to admiral despite doing poorly in school. In prison, McCain sees other prisoners cruelly tortured, while he sees a couple who appear to have decided to cooperate with the enemy. McCain is given a choice to be released early in recognition that his father is commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, but he refuses, and suffers for it. During a stepped-up bombing campaign, the prisoners sing "Silent Night", after which negotiations result in a release of prisoners and a trip home.
When initially aired, the film had 3.7 million viewers, and was A&E's highest-rated program in over a year.[3]
Reviews for Faith of My Fathers were mixed, with Variety calling the treatment an "earnest adaptation" and "a stark, by-the-numbers account of the horrors POWs endured in Vietnam",[4] while The Washington Post said the film was "serviceable" but fell short of McCain's "much more nuanced" memoir.[5]The New York Times said the film lacked complexity and texture, but that it was "a respectful, moving view of a veteran's effort to pay respects to his family and fellow P.O.W.'s."[6]
