This past year I've seen the sixteenth
president of the United States of America, that would be
Abraham Lincoln, slay vampires and give zombies the
business. Imagine my shock to learn that the man never
did any of those things. Thanks to Dreamworks, director
Steven Spielberg and most importantly the phenomenal Daniel
Day Lewis we have the epic 'Lincoln' which focuses on the last
months of the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the dying days of
the war with an opponent that was all but finished and his
desperate, almost myopic vision to pass the 13th Amendment to
the Constitution which would abolish the institution of
slavery in this nation once and for all.
Slavery is an abomination, we are all aware of this as this
appears to be a self-evident fact. However, if you
believe… I mean truly believe… that God above designed a group
of people for the sole purpose of brutal servitude to another
group of people, which was the basic justification for slavery
in this country, based on a couple of biblical versus I am all
too familiar with that we won't get into right now… maybe then
it becomes somewhat easier to understand why an estimated
three quarters of a million Americans died fighting to
persevere or to end this thing we see as a self-evident
abomination. God said this is the way it is supposed to
be.
At the time we are joining in this movie, the end of the war
is in sight, the south fighting on basically for pride and
negotiating position for their inevitable surrender, and
President Lincoln needs the House of Representatives to pass
the 13th Amendment. His cabinet doesn't understand why
he's so adamant about getting this passed, considering it's
doomed to fail since there isn't enough Republican votes to
get
it through the house and it's highly unlikely
that a single Democrat will vote for the bill. Besides,
from his colleague's point of view, the President has already
signed the Emancipation Proclamation and since the end of the
war is in sight, the theory being that he can pass any law he
wants to get passed when this inevitable occurrence
happens. It's complicated but for the President's plan
to work, he needs this amendment to pass.
So with a war going on tearing this country to shreds,
battling with The House, Congress, his own party and his own
cabinet members, it looks like Mr. Lincoln has a lot on his
plate, so surely his family life is calm and supportive
considering the intense stress he must be going through,
right? Oh no, Mary Todd (Sally Field) seems to be two
nickels short of a dollar with her tendency to light up
anybody at any time for any reason, including Abe, then
there's his son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who has dropped
out of law school and seems determined to enlist and die in
this war, against both his parents' wishes, but we can kind of
see where the young man was coming from as this is something
he felt he had to do.
At the center of all of this chaos was Abraham Lincoln, always
seemingly calm, forever quick with an anecdote… much to dismay
of many of his colleagues… with the fate of this nation in the
balance. Hate to spoil it for you but it all kind of
worked out. Maybe not the way we would've liked for
President Lincoln, but then that's another spoiler.
Since I enjoy studying history and learning about history, and
taking into further consideration that the director and lead
in this film are arguably the best ever at what they do, I was
pretty confident even before I sat down in my theater seat
that I was going to enjoy 'Lincoln', the only question
remaining for me would be 'how much'? The answer to that
question was 'more than even I expected'.
My concern going into 'Lincoln' was that it was going to be a
'difficult' film. Steven Spielberg pretty much changed the way
war films are presented with 'Saving Private Ryan' and the
close-up and personal combat style that was The Civil War had
me shuddering at what I might see. Compound that with
the looming specter of virulent and overt racism, something
that is always difficult to watch even for someone who isn't
the direct descendent of slaves as I am… I was prepared for a
significant emotional impact. But as it turns out
'Lincoln' isn't that kind of film. There is only one
battle sequence and the racism wasn't overplayed as it was
just always there… like oxygen. This telling of Abraham
Lincoln's story is to The Civil War what the movie 'Margin
Call' was to the recent financial meltdown. It takes us
behind the scenes of this beyond difficult time and gives us a
detailed account of the backroom deals, arm twisting, bribing
and occasional truth fudging that the president was willing to
do to force his agenda across. Not to mention what the
other side was willing to do to preserve what they believe was
their God given way of life. Regardless of all of that,
it plays out splendidly.
Other things that illuminated the times for me, such as how
opponents of the 13th amendment saw it, was first you free the
blacks, then give blacks the right to vote, then what?
Allow women to vote? Oh hell no. That's crazy
talk. Also, It appears in the 1860's everybody had
access to the President. Everybody. You went to
White House and waited in the lobby for your turn to bend the
President's ear. How awesome is that? I have a few
things I'd like to say to President Obama, but nobody's
letting me sit in the White House lobby any time soon.
At this point it is a given to say that Steven Spielberg knows
how to frame a pretty picture and pace a film, just like it's
a given to mention that Daniel Day-Lewis will envelope any
character he chooses to portray, but both men were at the top
of their already legendary games in this film. Not to
mention the solid support by a virtual who's who of some the
best character actors working today such as Tommy Lee Jones,
Gloria Rubin, John Hawkes, and Hal Holbrook just to name a
few.
The bottom line, that is if you were to ask me, I'd have to
say that 'Lincoln' is great film. Watching Abraham
Lincoln kill zombies and vampires is cool and all, but this
visual history lesson is the best way to see Mr. Lincoln in
all his glory.
