Film Review: Lincoln

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Staring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Fields, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon- Levitt, David Strathairn .  Screenplay by Tony Kushner and adapted from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Released: November 2012

I love history and learning about it, but I’d the first to admit that I am no expert. Beyond conversations with my father (another history fan) watching TLC, A&E, TVO specials and other documentaries, and courses I've taken in school, my history education stops there.  I've also been vocal in my belief that film and books can be an amazing catalyst to learn about history and culture.

It’s an enormous task to condense the life of one of the most revered presidents, not just of America but the world. Spielberg and screenplay writer Tony Kushner knew better than this and have decided to keep the focus on the last four months of Lincoln’s life (oh right!! spoiler!) and one of the president’s and history’s greatest achievements, the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that leads to the abolishment of slavery.

It is a very dialogue heavy film and at times I felt I needed a dictionary, so be prepared. During the two and half hour film we see the backroom politics, the buying of votes, the discussions and meetings, senate sessions all leading up the vote and the end of the American Civil War. There is a lot of detail that is in the film and at times it can feel a bit much. I felt that I should have known the names of the senators and their role during this time.  There is some comic relief provided by the three lobbyists hired to secure votes by Secretary of State William Seward (Strathairn), and Lincoln’s love of telling long stories before he makes his point. You also realize that politics in 1865 were not that different than politics in 2012.

I’m also known for my love for Daniel Day-Lewis and he can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes. If I ever, by the powers that be, were to be in his presence, my fantasy is a lovely conversation about art and culture with a bear hug at the end. I know myself well enough that in actuality one of two things would happen.  Fall on my knees and claim “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy!” a la Wayne Cambell and Garth Algar. Or I would be frozen and unable to communicate at all, forever to regret the missed opportunity late into my spinsterhood alone with my fifty cats.

Day-Lewis once again shows why he is considered by many one of the greatest actors, ever. It is a controlled and overall quieter performance by Day-Lewis, where eye movement and facial mannerisms are highlighted, but you can’t take your eyes off from him and presence and charisma as Lincoln holds you in. Lincoln’s voice when the trailer was first released was greatly talked about, that it wasn't the traditional lower bass type voice.  Both Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis have discussed that through research with historians, along with documents by those who describe Lincoln’s voice, that it was a higher tone. Of course we can’t know exactly what his voice was like, but combined with their research and Day-Lewis’s hearing of “a voice” in his head (as he does with all his characters) a “Lincoln” voice was conceived to the best of their knowledge.

Lincoln was known as a tall man and with a presence around him. The humanization of Lincoln is unlike any other portrayal I’ve seen before. One example is Lincoln himself getting on his knees and poking the fire and adding another log, all while discussing matters of state. Lincoln helping his wife Mary (Fields) untie her corset and even sleeping on the floor, cuddling his youngest son. These little things and others help to show him as just a man, husband and father. Don’t let the quiet fool you though. When Lincoln is talking or addressing a crowd, all eyes are him and he is in charge. Lincoln is shown as a man, not some American demi-God, who would listen to various people and opinions, take his time and agonize over a matter, but in the end and as seen through his words in a dramatic speech to get the final two votes he needs, “I am the President, cloaked in immense power! You will procure me these votes.” Where Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance as Bill the Butcher and Daniel Plainview was all about how bombastic and larger than life they were, Day-Lewis’s Lincoln is equal but in the subtleness and detail in the performance.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Some of my favourite scenes were the ones between Lincoln and his Wife. Sally Fields is the strongest I've seen her in a long time. She fought for the role of the misunderstood Mary Todd Lincoln, and it shows how passionate she was about it.  The couple argue, they laugh, have difference of opinions and share the grief of a lost child. The term  first lady was made for a reason. Tommy Lee Jones as radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens who worked for thirty years for racial equality makes you laugh with his speeches and then cry with his reaction once the vote passes and his personal connection to the importance of it. A supporting nomination for Tommy Lee Jones is pretty much a certainty. Others include Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as the eldest son, Todd, even in his few scenes managed to show a young man struggling living in the shadow of his father and wanting to make his own mark in the world very well.

As mentioned before the film is rich in its detail. The costumes look as authentic and as uncomfortable as they probably were. When there is a wool blanket wrapped around Lincoln, you feel cold yourself. The settings help to bring the world to life, such as The White House, the senate room and trenches that are dirty and a horrific place where no one should be. 

Although the political players were not African American and it is about the political process, the only “non-white” characters are shown briefly throughout the film as solders, maids and butlers. Maybe I’m being overly sensitive, but that felt a little odd for a film with this subject matter.

True to Spielberg's style, the ending is hopeful and with a message that is meant to resonate today as well, just as it did then. That we are all equal.