Lincoln

Lincoln has been as well received as any movie in years. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals most consider Spielberg and much of the cast to be Oscar worthy.

The movie, unlike the book, which examines the whole Lincoln Presidency, centers on the last four months of Lincoln's life. At this time Lincoln is working feverishly toward getting the 13th amendment, that which bans slavery, to be ratified by the House, the Senate having previously done so. Lincoln's fear is that with the war coming to an end that the Emancipation Proclamation might be somehow reversed as an executive order under the War Powers Act. He himself admits to the plausibility of it being reversed due to the murky process by which he was invested with such powers.

One would think this would be an easy thing, the North after all was against slavery. However Democrats, still in sympathy, with their Southern brethren, and if not for slavery against anything that might indicate an equality between the races had consistently held any thought of the amendment at bay. With the war coming to an end Lincoln has a limited time frame. He knows he needs to have the law passed before it can be used as a negotiating point for any Southern delegation.

What follows is a legislative battle that most folks today would not have presumed taking place in that long ago time. We have visions of Lincoln being all powerful, at least in the North, when in actuality he was not a popular figure to some, we think of the North holding hands and freeing the slaves in unison, this also was far from the truth. What transpired was bare-knuckled politics. A lobbying group was contracted by Secretary of State Steward to try to convert the necessary lame-duck Democrats ( those who would be leaving office in March of 1965) to change their previous votes. Nothing was above these men. Bribery, Patronage, even blackmail if necessary. It becomes evident that in the case of the thirteenth amendment one must hope that the end justified the means because it was not a pretty process.

In the end Lincoln who, while it had been attempted to insulate him from the dirty politics of the lobbyists) worked hand in hand with them in gaining the votes necessary. Lincoln was a consummate politician. He knew what buttons to push in almost every case. One gets a strong sense of his personality and also the exasperation of those around him. Always quick with a story, sometimes frustratingly so to those who revered him, and wished him to be more forceful he ran the country like I sometimes think I parent. Trying to show examples that deliver the message in a nice way but never being afraid to deliver the message as poison if need be.

Spielberg's direction is flawless, the soundtrack is elegant and the acting is the best you will find.

Daniel Day Lewis might well earn another Best Actor Oscar. None of us ever saw Lincoln in the flesh or even on video but one cannot walk out of the theater without feeling like you saw a genuine glimpse of the man.

Sally Field is wonderful as the harpy wife Mary Todd Lincoln. With stresses all her life the death of her son in the White House two years ago is a sadness that never leaves her.

Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens continues his string of improbable rolls. It has been a long way from Woodrow Call to this but Jones never misses a step.

Hal Holbrook, still alive, I did not know, plays Francis Blair, a pivotal Republican, not in office, but controlling a large block of votes who Lincoln must win to his cause and then manipulate the events and timing of the bill to stay the course and not lose his support.

Everything about this movie is first rate. The only caution I can provide is that because the movie centers on just one short time period, primarily on one piece of legislation, and the battle to get that bill passed, for those without much of an interest in politics, the process as it were, the movie can get long. For those of us who love history, are political junkies and appreciate a beautifully filmed movie it does not get better than this.

My highest recommendation for this movie.