Lincoln

"...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."



I went out to Utah for a Surprise vist. Only my mom and dad knew I was coming. My dad made plans for us to go see the new movie about Abraham Lincoln when I arrived. Since we are both history buffs we thought it would be nice to hit an early morning release the day it opened. In the theater were more people than expected and the average age of movie goers was well into the 70's. At one point after watch an elderly gentlemen slowly make his way to his seat I turned to my dad and offered him five bucks to go ask the guy what President Lincoln was like in person.

Lincoln is a film based on a few months period of Lincoln's life. It focused on the stuggle of getting the 13th ammendment passed by the House. This ammendment would emancipate the salave and make them free. The film began shortly after Lincoln has been re-elected and innogurated for a second term. The Civil War is windng down and there is talk of peace between the north and south. Lincoln is in a rush to get the ammendment passed on the basis that it must be done now so the slaves can be counted as spoils of war thus not violating state law of personal property. Lincoln and his cabinet work to get the votes need to pass the amendment. They go about courting the delegates and trying to turn their votes in favor of the ammendment.

Abraham Lincoln is played by Daniel Day-Lewis. He looks and sounds fantastic as Lincoln, and I'm sure will be up for an oscar. Lincoln's wife, Mary, is played by Sally Field. Mary was a little crazy after the deather of her first son and she seems a half step from the edge the whole movie. A friend said that if you want crazy just cast Sally Field. The film is a list of who's who. One of my favorites was Tommy Lee Jones Plays Thaddeus Steven a Delegate who is working to get the Ammendment passed also. You can see he is passionate about it passing and also provides a bit of comic relief for the film

Lincoln shows some of the hooror of the Civil war and has some great scenes of the final days of the War. Shots of battle scenes and hospitals are good. My dad's favorite scene is the opening scene where Lincon is talking to two black soldiers who are talking about the progress of the black soldier in the war. they are very respectful. Then two young white solders who seem new to the war show up and offer the opposite as far as manners. They are lound and seem very out of place as they recount the gettysburg address. They finally go back to their regiment leaving Lincoln with one of the black soldiers who finishes quoteing the Gettysburg Address, only much more reverently.

Lincoln was not a bio pic as much as it was an ensemble production. This movie in my opinion was more of a "Court Drama." The real story was about all the work that went into passing the ammendment abolishing slavery. Oscar bait as it may be I feel it was one of the best movies of the year.

8.96 out of 10.