An elite president, captured brilliantly in Lincoln.
Spielberg proves that he's about more than just sci-fi and action movies. Image from Google Images
I have always known Steven Spielberg to be a science fiction writer and director. However, his true talents were revealed with his new historical film, Lincoln.
The setting for this story begins with the Civil War raging and President Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine) running for his second term in office. Lincoln takes a stand and brings about the abolishment of slavery in front of congress, to be ratified as the 13th amendment. Some people don’t fully understand how long or how strenuous the journey was to reach such a landmark in our country’s history; I used to be one of those people, until I saw this movie.
I must say, I was impressed when I saw this film; though the title is a little misleading. I thought that the movie was going to be about Lincoln’s life from birth to death, but instead it was a tale about passing the 13th amendment and the conclusion to the Civil War. My attention was stretched when a few soldiers started to recite The Gettysburg Address during the opening scene. I went with my family and, every once in awhile, I would catch my parents crying. Maybe it was the fact that I am a teenager, but at first I was greatly confused by this film.
The cool thing that I learned was that Lincoln didn’t have much schooling. He had only about one year of formal education in his life and the rest of his learning came from absorbing all he could from reading a vast collection of books. Lincoln loved to use anecdotal stories, not only for humor, but to make points about the pressing matters at hand. The humor made this movie bearable for a younger crowd.
One joke, which Lincoln told to poke fun at himself, was, “I feel like I once did when I met a woman riding horseback in the woods. As I stopped to let her pass, she also stopped, and, looking at me intently, said: “I do believe you are the ugliest man I ever saw.” Said I, “Madam, you are probably right, but I can’t help it!” “No,” said she, “you can’t help it, but you might stay at home!”
In the movie, President Lincoln was portrayed by the talented Daniel Day-Lewis, who did an amazing job at speaking the dialogue and capturing the personality of Lincoln. The voice he used was what grabbed everyone’s attention, which was both chilling and comforting. He was able to convince me that he was the actual Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd was played by Sally Field (The Amazing Spider-Man). Mary Todd suffered from bipolar and many other disorders, but with all of the stress of being The First Lady at the time, who wouldn’t start to go a little crazy? She would often worry about her husband’s safety, due to the many threatening letters they would both receive, some angry and some life threatening. She didn’t want her husband to get the amendment passed, because it would put them both in further danger.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper) plays Robert Lincoln, the middle son, who sets out to become a lawyer but drops out of school against his parents’ wishes and joins the Union army. He struggles with feelings of helplessness and thinks himself a coward for not helping defend the Union.
Even though this is just a solitary portion of Lincoln’s life, it truly shows the president at his strongest. I couldn’t help but clap at the end along with the other people viewing the film. This movie showed how great a man Abraham Lincoln truly was, and what he had to give and sacrifice for this country.
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” – Abraham Lincoln
Rating: ★★★★
