Surprisingly different war film

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2013)

As with most war films you expect fight scenes and with Lincoln (2012) you get one right at the beginning but that's it! Instead it's more a war of words between many different men who are all playing to win their own battles.
Daniel Day-Lewis deserves his Oscar for playing the lightly spoken charming Abraham Lincoln who is physically weighed down after four years of war but still able to think on his feet. Although the North are winning Lincoln wants to ban slavery altogether and not just those of his enemies which he had achieved in 1863.
What is masterful about this film is the dialogue and script. Raged debates in the House of Representatives, intrigue in hushed rooms and family arguments are woven with heart and sophistication. Spielberg emphasises how important words are in defining ideas which he illustrates deftly in Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee-Jones) speech to define equality; a scene which also uses great insults on the debate floor to lighten and colour Lincoln (2012).
What also stops this film from sinking under the heavy theme is the urgency to pass the equality bill before events take over, and the life- or-death dilemmas that have to be made.
In the tradition of great political thrillers I heartily pass Lincoln (2012)