GEORGE WALLACE ON 'FIRE' POLITICIAN'S HUBRIS COULDN'T BE QUENCHED.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

Hard to imagine, but darned if you might feel a little choked up by the end of ``George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire,'' a meticulously constructed documentary about the politician, who profited as much from preaching hatred as anyone in recent memory save a certain Teutonic dictator. But a late-in-life change of heart revealed to him the error of his ways and sent him phoning up former political enemies, apologizing for his power-mad vindictiveness.

Later, when he opts not to run for the Alabama governorship for a sixth term, to let the overwhelming power he accumulated over his decades in office simply dissipate, as he tears up announcing his withdrawal from the race, you begin to discern his own sense of a life that could have meant - and accomplished - so much more.

And in the hands of filmmakers Daniel McCabe, Paul Stekler and Steve Fayer, who won a special jury prize for this documentary at Sundance this year, the path to that crossroads is always fascinating. As they point out, Wallace's politics weren't always choked with hatred - in fact, by Alabama standards, he was something of a progressive; some considered him a downright socialist. The turning point was the governor's race of 1958, when a virulent racist named John Patterson - a guy who had recommended the death penalty for a black who had stolen a buck and change from a white woman - roundly beat Wallace by appealing solely to crackers' fears of African-Americans.

Wallace's response was breathtakingly cynical - and equally venal - and he was apocalyptically zealous in making sure no one would ever trump him when he played the race card again. His race-baiting tactics made him a national figure and, by virtue of the fact that he didn't need a drool cup during his public orations, one that won over adherents outside the deep South.

Even though his vitriolic rhetoric was cited as a reason for much violence in the South, he came within 1 percent of the vote in two states in the 1968 presidential election of holding the electoral college hostage - and that, with a nuke-crazy hawk for a running mate that scared off many of his constituents. And had it not been for an apolitical nut job with a gun - not even someone who was affronted by his politics - who paralyzed him from the waist down, he might have caused even more trouble in 1972. (President Nixon, being Nixon, plotted, unsuccessfully, to portray the would-be assassin as a staunch George McGovern follower.)

As the filmmakers - and their interview subjects, many of whom worked with the governor - see it, Wallace's lust for power was so thorough and so relentless that he happily made the Faustian deal relinquishing his principles to run Alabama. Equally astonishing is how they show Wallace's transformation from America's most beloved and reviled racist to the man who won the black vote in his final campaign.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire.''

--What: ``American Experience'' documentary about the notorious Southern segregationist politician.

--Where: KCE.

--When: Part 1 at 8 tonight; Part 2 at 8 p.m. Monday.

--Our rating: Three stars.

TALE OF JESUS' LIFE HAS FEET OF CLAY

``The Miracle Maker'' brings us the life of Christ in the same medium that transformed Gumby into a children's icon, Claymation, mixed intermittently (and irritably) with inferior other styles (probably farmed out to other animators in order to meet some deadline or budgetary constraint).

The cast of voices - led by Ralph Fiennes as Jesus, and including Julie Christie (playing Mary Magdelene, who's not a prostitute here, just a little crazy), William Hurt (who, even though his mug's nowhere in sight, still manages to overact), Ian Holm, Richard E. Grant and so on - underscores the intended level of reverence surrounding this project. And at times, the tableaux created are visually impressive. Particularly the crucifixion - but then, every filmmaker tends to do a good job with the crucifixion; if you can't make that stirring, you don't belong in the business.

On the other hand, the story is delivered with a reverence bordering on bloodlessness; kids may enjoy the animation, but there's nothing fresh here that parents haven't sat through countless times before. One imagines the brainstorming session: ``How hasn't the story of Jesus been told?'' Stay tuned for next year's sock-puppet version; it really couldn't be any kitschier than this.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``The Miracle Maker.''

--What: The life of Christ, Claymation-style.

--The stars: Voices of Ralph Fiennes, Julie Christie, William Hurt, Richard E. Grant, Ian Holm, Alfred Molina, Miranda Richardson, David Thewlis.

--Where: ABC (Channel 7).

--When: 7 tonight.

--Our rating: Two and one half stars.

- D.K.

'ENSLAVEMENT' NO SERVANT TO HISTORY

Fanny Kemble wrote a memoir about life in slave-era Georgia that, when published in her native England, was credited with convincing Parliament to withdraw loans to the Confederacy, which in turn weakened the war effort in the clash between the North and South. On the other hand, in ``Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble,'' she spouts such balderdash as, ``No one can paint me as I am because I am not what I appear to be,'' and, ``I am sick to death of being Fanny Kemble, but I'm so good at it, I can't do anything else'' - in the film's first six minutes. So you're not really inclined to think very well of her, regardless of the historical record.

And one suspects that Jane Seymour, who stars as Kemble and serves as executive producer of ``Enslavement,'' really didn't have anything powerful or persuasive or interesting to say about slavery; she just wanted to be heroic while parading around in some really elegant gowns. And so she does, after winning the heart of a wealthy landowner named Pierce Butler (Keith Carradine), who tells her, ``I would never attempt to restrict you.'' But of course, five minutes after the requisite love scene, he's doing precisely that. The rest of the movie is just as subtle.

Like ``Sally Hemings: An American Scandal,'' which aired on CBS two months back, ``Enslavement'' can't decide whether it's a story about race or just a standard-issue bodice-ripper; unlike ``Hemings,'' it's more at home as the latter. Director James Keach, Seymour's husband, gives himself the role of a simpering yet heroic doctor who chases Fanny; he also opens the movie with an exploitative and otherwise unrelated scene straight out of ``Mandingo'' of semi-nude slaves brutalized for engaging in a romantic coupling.

He also bathes his wife in so much soft focus the whole movie feels fuzzy. Though the film spans 20 years and Fanny was in her 50s during the Civil War, Seymour - whose British accent sounds like the result of watching an hour or two of ``Masterpiece Theatre'' - doesn't seem to age a day. Sitting through this, however, will most definitely impress upon you the ravages of time.

THE FACTS

--The show: ``Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble.''

--What: Biopic about an abolitionist who wore really elegant gowns.

--The stars: Jane Seymour, Keith Carradine, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

--Where: Showtime.

--When: 8 tonight; also April 26.

--Our rating: One and one half stars.

- David Kronke

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1) ``George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire,'' a two-part documentary on Alabama's former governor, debuts tonight.

(2) A Claymation Jesus is the star of a new Easter Sunday television special.

(3) Jane Seymour stars as Englishwoman Fanny Kemble, whose slave-era memoir convinced Parliament to withdraw loans to the Confederacy, thereby weakening its efforts in the Civil War.

Box: (1 --3) THE FACTS (see text)