It’s walked out of the books and onto the screen.
My grandfather collected books about Lincoln. Abraham, not Nebraska. I’ve read a few of them. Not all, by any means. So, I know a bit about our 16th president.
Most citizens of the United States do.
He’s one of the few that everybody remembers and everybody reveres.
Sometimes, we forget he was a masterful politician.
Go see Stephen Spielberg’s new movie, Lincoln.
It’s going to sweep the awards. It deserves to do so.
What a gorgeous film on practically every level.
The acting—across the board—superb! Daniel Day-Lewis is the Lincoln I would have requisitioned if I could have imagined the perfect actor—and my imagination would have fallen short of this performance. The supporting cast: David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, Sally Field, Hal Holbrook and countless others disappear into the time and the story and the persons. After the first flash of recognition, all their star qualities, the tricks and trademarks, vanish as if they had never been. We are watching William Seward, Thaddeus Stephens, W. N. Bilbo, Mary Todd Lincoln, Preston Blair.
The script is fascinating. Based largely on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s A Team of Rivals, Tony Kushner has transcended the usual bio pic to give an in-depth study of the machinations surrounding the passing of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The wheeling and dealing, the lofty ideals and the base political machinations are all laid out before us.
The cinematography is beautiful. The film is shot in a palette almost indescribable. Suffice it to say that the historical details of setting and costume are crisp and clean, and yet, the whole thing has a patina of age, a not-quite-sepia tone of old photographs.
The direction—okay, I have a few quibbles—but the overall achievement is of such high quality that I’m not going to pick nits.
The score—one of the few movie soundtracks I feel I ought to buy.
I am going to buy the DVD. The minute I can.
This movie is a FIND. With a capital F.I.N.D. Run—with a capital R—to see it.
