Review
by Bob Ignizio
Although
Steven Spielberg's LINCOLN
does provide insight into what made our 16th president the man he
was, it's not so much a biopic as it is a movie about how the
sausages are made. By that I'm referring to the legislative process,
about which John Godfrey Saxe (and not Otto Von Bismarck, who often
gets the credit) famously said, “Laws, like sausages, cease to
inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.”
The
particular sausage being ground up and shoved into its casing in
LINCOLN is the 13th
amendment which, when it was eventually ratified, abolished slavery
in the United States of America. Obviously that's a good thing, but
like much that takes place in congress it required a great deal of
careful maneuvering and political favors to reach fruition. And while
it would be nice to think that “Honest Abe” was strictly above
board in all these dealings, the truth is that then as now, the
lawmaking process often crossed into ethical gray areas.
The time period in
which we see this take place encompasses a mere two months, the final
two months of Abraham Lincoln's presidency, in fact. Lincoln (Daniel
Day Lewis) is worried that his Emancipation Proclamation may not pass
constitutional muster. He feels he has a moral responsibility to
ensure that the end of slavery isn't undone by any potential peace
treaty with the Confederacy, and believes that if the amendment
doesn't pass before the Civil War is over, it never will. Even
getting everyone in his own Republican party on board with this goal
is no easy task, requiring the help Lincoln's secretary of state
William Seward (David Strathairn) and Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee
Jones), leader of the Republican's radical abolitionist wing.
To get the
necessary number of Democrats for ratification, Lincoln turns to
shady lobbyists W. N. Bilbo (James Spader) and Richard Schell (Tim
Blake Nelson). They're not allowed to outright bribe anyone, but
anything short of that is fair game. Meanwhile Lincoln's wife Mary
(Sally Field), still reeling from the death of one son, refuses to
let oldest boy Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) serve in the Union army.
Often reduced in history to “that crazy broad Lincoln was married
to”, here Mrs. Lincoln is portrayed in a considerably more
sympathetic and nuanced light, providing a reliable sounding board
for her husband's ideas and possessing the strength to defend them
against his critics when necessary.
It
almost goes without saying that Day-Lewis gives an amazing
performance in the title role; seriously, can anyone think of a movie
he was in where he didn't knock it out of the park? Here he effortlessly conveys Lincoln's
strength, humor, and wisdom while at the same time never letting us
forget the weariness, self doubt, and sadness just beneath the
surface. Jones and Field are just as good in strong, well written
supporting roles, and even the most minor parts are carefully cast.
Certainly Day-Lewis' Lincoln is the focus, even when he's not on
screen, but to some degree this feels more like an ensemble piece
than a star-centric biopic. Speaking of the cast, fun bit of trivia.
Hal Holbrook, who here plays the role of Preston Blair, has himself
played Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln
TV miniseries from 1974/5, and in North
and South
parts 1 and 2.
In a
way, Abraham Lincoln was in almost as much need of an image makeover
as his wife. In recent years the "Great Emancipator" has often been reduced to little more than a cartoon caricature in Presidents'
Day sales ads, or an action hero fighting vampires and zombies in B horror films.
Drawing from Doris Kearns Goodwin's book “A Team of Rivals”,
Spielberg paints a portrait of his subject that doesn't whitewash his
flaws, but that nonetheless shows him as the true American hero that
he was.
Unlike
last year's so-so THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN
and WAR HORSE, with
LINCOLN Spielberg has
delivered a film truly worthy of its numerous inevitable award
nominations. In a career with so many excellent films to his name, I
can't say that this is the director's best, but it's certainly in the
upper echelon with SAVING PRIVATE RYAN,
SCHINDLER'S LIST, and
JAWS. 4 out of 4
stars.
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