Lincoln movie needs more Lincoln

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2014)

Lincoln is a movie with a rather disappointing flaw: it's not actually about Lincoln. This movie, which purports to tell the story of this iconic man, is not about the man at all. It is a movie about the process of getting an amendment through Congress. Two and a half hours of that unsurprisingly leads to quite a bit of boredom. Abraham Lincoln led such a fascinating life. None of that fascinating stuff makes it into the movie. Instead Steven Spielberg focuses solely on the last four months of Lincoln's life, focuses on just one of the many accomplishments of this great President. Yes, the passage of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery is hugely important. But the story of the amendment's passage is not nearly enough to sustain a movie of this length. There has to be more to the story. A movie about the life of Abraham Lincoln would never be boring, would never fail to captivate. Unfortunately this is not that movie.
The best thing the movie has going for it is undoubtedly the stellar performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln. Such a shame then that so much of the movie is spent away from the President, following others working on his behalf to get the amendment passed. This Lincoln movie desperately needs more Lincoln. It quickly becomes a movie more about political machinations than any sort of biography. And Congressional procedure does not make for a particularly interesting movie. Other actors, most notably Tommy Lee Jones as Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, do their best. The movie is very well-acted, everyone in the enormous cast does a fine job. But you don't go into a movie titled Lincoln hoping to see some nice supporting performances. You go into it to see Lincoln. And the wonderful performance of Day-Lewis is largely wasted as there just isn't enough for him to do. The narrow focus of the film robs us of the opportunity to really see the story of this great man. Day-Lewis could have done so much with this role if given the chance to truly cover the breadth of Lincoln's life. A tremendous opportunity missed. In the end Spielberg has produced not a bad movie but surely a very frustrating one. You go into this movie hoping to really get to know Abraham Lincoln. You don't get to know him at all. Instead you learn more than you could ever want to know about how Congress works. There's a reason nobody makes movies about the House of Representatives.