LIncoln - a man of character & our greatest President

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2013)

Spoiler: Lincoln dies in the end . . . . but then, you probably knew that - hopefully.
Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals has long been one of my favorite books - the best book on leadership I have ever read. So, I was excited when I heard that Spielberg's Lincoln would be based on the book. In fact the movie focuses primarily on the passage of the 13th amendment (Emancipation) by the Congress. There is so much more in Team of Rivals, that please don't think you have gotten the essence of the book (or the man) by watching the movie.
Nevertheless, the movie is terrific. While Lincoln is using every trick he and his cohorts know to garner the needed votes for passage of the amendment, his humor, his character, and the anguish he suffered throughout his life are well displayed. As far as the politics of the vote, it is easy to trash our current Congress (well deserved), but this movie shows you that things have not changed since the beginning of our Republic. Everyone has their own ideas as to what is best for themselves - oops the nation - and many times things get done for the wrong reason (Payoffs, positions - feeding the individual's greed for wealth or power). It is so today and was so in 1865.
One of the best roles which illustrated this was Hal Holbrook - playing the role of Preston Blair who was trying to broker a peace offer between the North and South. And then Lincoln, a very ambitious politician himself, playing both ends against the middle - doing almost anything to keep the Union together, signs a true, but misleading statement to the House which helped seal the deal for the vote for emancipation. Lincoln a staunch opponent of slavery made the famous statement " if I could save the Union by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. If I could save the Union by freeing none of the slaves, I would do it."
Well, back to the movie - the script is superb, the acting superb, the resemblance to the actual people amazing - I wish at the end they had introduced all the actors next to the real life person - Lincoln was great - Gideon Wells was dead on.
I hope you see the movie - this one immediately moved into my top ten (along with a bunch of zombie flicks). You will not go wrong with Lincoln. DonB