Worth Seeing but skews Lincoln's Moral Character

Rating: 5/10 (20 November 2012)

Do you think we choose to be born? Or are we fitted to the times we are born into?
It's not every day that you go to the movies to be left inspired by film you just spent 2+ hours watching.
Last night, I got to see the recently released movie, "Lincoln" and while there were probably more people watching the 100th installment of the Twilight series, I doubt they left fulfilled in the way viewers watching our 16th President battle through Congress and a nation torn apart (unless Lincoln made a vampire cameo in that movie).
The last time I left feeling inspired by such a movie was by the 2006 movie Amazing Grace, which chronicled William Wilberforce and his struggles in Parliament to end the British slave trade. The similarities were incredible and as a result I felt equally satisfied too.
As an addict of American history, the story of Lincoln was well done, and chronicled the last few months of his life prior to his assassination. There were plenty of subtle nuances throughout the movie from Abraham Lincoln's postures to famous photos involving Lincoln that were acted on. One such moment that I found moving was the reenactment of the now famous photo of Lincoln in a more private moment reading a book to his son, Tad on his lap.
Showing Lincoln as a real person and not some marbleesque statue (as it is so easy to view him as) was probably this movie's greatest trait. Daniel Day-Lewis (you probably remember him from The Last of the Mohicans) did a great job of showing the softer and more personable side of his character. As one who has read just about every major biography on Lincoln, I can tell you that life for Lincoln was more misery than it was sunshine and roses, and this persisted throughout his Presidency. From the day he took the oath of office, there were states already seceding from the Union. He also experienced the death of one of his own children. Not to mention the scores of dead bodies that died during the war he presided over.
Flaws that kept Lincoln the movie from being epic
However, there were areas, I wish the film would have focused more on. Such areas would've been a greater emphasis on the role Lincoln's Christian faith played in his presidency and the influence it had in the life and death decisions made on a daily basis. This was largely ignored until the end of the movie in which they did a remake of Lincoln giving his 2nd Inaugural Address which demonstrated the deeply seated Christian-Calvinistic beliefs he held.
But my biggest annoyance with the movie, was the multiple strings of profanity that was accredited to Lincoln as if he had actually said them and in particular, him taking God's name in vain, which I'm sure if he were alive to see today, would have been a huge point in contention with him. This may seem like a petty indifference, but to me it is besmirching his character in an unnecessary way.
In the book Abraham Lincoln: A Biography, Samuel R Suddarth, a Quartermaster General from Kentucky, quotes Lincoln as saying, "God knows I do not know when I have sworn before," and there are not any known quotes of Lincoln having used the profanity he was accredited with in this movie. So if this film is supposed to be named after Lincoln the man, portray Lincoln the man, and reflect Lincoln the man, then they should accurately reflect the character of Lincoln and the values that he held.
The difference between the movie Amazing Grace portraying William Wilberforce and this movie here, is that the former showed him for everything Wilberforce was. On the other hand, Spielberg was right about about 85% of Lincoln, which is more than I can say about other historical movies, but glossed over on what I'd say is Lincoln's most important aspect of life - his faith and trust in God, and in doing so, it was an injustice to the movie.
In all, the movie is absolutely worth seeing
That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the movie, and I'll probably go see it again just to catch all the subtle nuances of the movie that I missed the first time. The chronology of events the movie displayed, the ruckus in Congress over the 13th Amendment being passed, and the interpersonal exchanges between Lincoln and the soldiers that fought for the Union, the conversations he had with slaves, his love for his children, and the misery that he faced for much of his adult life were displayed in a most moving way.
In the end, Lincoln didn't view the Great Civil War as a match between Winners and Losers, but whether the greatest of Unions would remain forever separated or not.
And Spielberg got that right.