Oscar-nominee review: Lincoln

Lincoln comes out of its blocks like an elite but aging runner… maybe a bit stiff at first. But it limbers quickly and the film soon establishes a winning pace. Although the early scenes are a little clunky, they are effective in introducing the turning-point piece of history to be reviewed and the topics that will be assessed; high principle and required sacrifice, Lincoln’s gauging of the balance of the two, and his tenacious pursuit to solidify emancipation.

Lincoln is not a big movie; it’s a movie about a big thing and a big man. It does not shoot for epic; at least not in the visual sense. Although the Civil War is central, of course, to the film’s subject, we are shown only one battle scene and even that one scene is focused on the small scale; pairs of men warring hand to hand, killing and dying. Instead, screenwriter Tony Kushner and director Steven Spielberg let the history (sourced, in part, from the Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln) role out and let the weight of it set in without massive vistas or din. They also avoid trying to rehash the whole of Lincoln history, limiting their focus to the struggle to pass the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery, and covering only the last four months of Lincoln’s life.

The film’s ability to present the historical account and yet to still engage dramatically and emotionally is due, in large part, to Daniel Day-Lewis’ superb performance. Day Lewis is mesmerizing as Lincoln and leads one (or at least me) easily to believe that this is who and what Lincoln must have been. Lewis is given a lot of room to work as we see under Lincoln’s political life to the more common-man struggles with his erratic wife Mary (played terrifically by Sally Fields), the memories of a lost son, and the protection of another. Most intriguing, however, is the portrayal of Honest Abe as not always completely honest; applying a Clintonian definition of truth at times (along with payoffs and threats) to reach a higher goal.

Lincoln is complete and captivating. Its depiction of the range of opinion, politics, and pain that surrounded this first great step toward equality and the ideals framed by Lincoln is Mount-Rushmore solid. Lincoln may not win best motion picture (Day-Lewis will certainly walk away with a trophy though) but it is must see for all - 8 out of 10.