Like all the other PBS documentaries I've seen on DVD and streaming, this one does not have any captions of any sort. This is frustrating because I have a deaf daughter AND because there are several French-speaking people in the film with heavy accents--and captions sure would have come in handy. It's really a shame, as the PBS films are great but somehow no one bothered to caption them! This film is about the Marquis de Lafayette. It goes by the assumption that he's pretty much forgotten today, though I think this may be overstating it a bit--as most Americans have forgotten almost ALL the leaders of the American Revolution except, perhaps, Washington and Franklin! The main thrust of the film is his career during the American Revolution but also talks about how he was able to avoid the guillotine during the French Revolution, as he was one of the few aristocrats who was in favor of a representative government. He was a truly fascinating man, though a lot of the story concerning his relationship with George Washington is oddly glossed over all too quickly--and it is up to other documentaries to tell this fascinating and very touching story (he was almost like Washington's step-son--and they truly adored each other)."The Lost Hero" consists of narration, various interviews, pictures and recreations. Oddly, in a few cases they show the folks recreating events AND show the film crew as well! Why would they show Lafayette's wife writing a letter as a boom microphone operator stands behind her?! This is odd and took me out of the moment. Still, it's very good and very well made--and well worth seeing.By the way, if you find the narrator's voice familiar, it's John Cullum--who was a regular on "Northern Exposure".

Within this superior 1 hour documentary (with drama) by writer/director Oren Jacoby, those of us history-ignorant US citizens discover it was a very young, very wealthy, very passionate French nobleman who, on learning of our Declaration of Independence, immediately sailed the Atlantic from his own country at his own cost to eventually lead in decisive battles in the American Revolution to become one of this nation's greatest patriots and generals. One of George Washington's closest, youngest and long-time friends, Lafayette, along with the assistance of the venerable Thomas Jefferson, conceived and put-to-paper 'a vision of human rights as the core value of any society', even within France, the nation of his birth. You may remember 'Lafayette' as the name of numerable towns across America (and there are many, more than 30) in his honor. But you really don't know the 'man', and you should. If you're reading my enthusiasm between the lines, I'm glad. I watched this gem of history on Netflix live-streaming. You can too.