This One is for the Ages

Rating: 9/10 (22 November 2012)

It is altogether fitting that this film is playing to packed theaters this very special Thanksgiving Day. A film dealing with Lincoln, a leader killed in the 19th Century in a loss to the United States that took away a leader who had saved the country. That is because this November 22nd marks 49 years since the United States lost another leader in the 20th Century who was the last leader who had a great vision for what this country could have been- John F Kennedy. The difference is that in the 20th Century we lost the leader too soon to ever realize their vision. Lincoln's loss was after he achieved it.
This movies main theme deals with Lincoln achieving his vision, a Union with free men, not slaves. A country of peace for the United States did achieve a time of peace after the Civil War. Ironically that peace would not last into the 20th Century. The end of slavery is what did. It did take until the 20th Century during John F Kennedy's short Presidency that Martin Luther King would vocalize Lincoln's true vision when he made the "I Have A Dream" speech.
Politics aside, this film is a land mark for Steven Spielberg. He achieves something daring for the first time in his career, a mature themed historic drama. He pulls this off magnificently. He has a lot of help. The portrayal of Lincoln is top notch. The cast performs at a very high level. Daniel Day-Lewis gives the performance of his life. From what I have seen and read about Lincoln, his performance is spot on with that. Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, and 87 years young Hal Holbrook are just amazing in support. Amazingly the script makes you feel like you know Lincoln and understand the politics.
The thing that makes this special for Spielberg is how he uses visual story telling with camera angles that remind me of Alfred Hitchcock in the later stages of the film. The scenes at the Hospital Lincoln visits, and especially the departure of Lincoln for the last time from the White House for Fords Theater illustrate the maturing of Spielberg as a Director. These visuals have rarely been seen in films and for this Director these sequences are 2 of the best he has ever filmed. It gives me hope that young filmmakers today will study these scenes and start doing more visual story telling like this film. These scenes raise the bar for Spielberg and he should use them to teach his students how he achieved them.
There are great script dialog like the conversations between the Lincolns bring their characters to life. the imagery of Tad on his dads lap. The shattering image of Tad in a theater hearing his father is dead. Fine film making to be sure as it conveys a human realism into the story.
The script is crafted in a way to remind us how dirty politics are and show us how corrupt a system and a country even Lincoln had to deal with. In a way the 13th Amendment is the main subject of the film, but that amendments star is Abe Lincoln. That is why this movie is correctly titled. It portrays too how smart Lincoln was as a negotiator. He faced more than any leader in US History yet.