I nodded off

Rating: 1/10 (21 January 2014)

I would expect this movie to be of interest, and generally well received, by Americans, however, I found it tedious beyond tedium. Long drawn out speeches in dark surroundings with seemingly endless bodies and cigar smoke. All it showed to me was that the same horse trading happened in American politics then as happens now. I thought Daniel Day Lewis' portrayal was excellent, but his vast talent was wasted by the screen overcrowding. It could have been really good, it could have shown, as in the opening, more of the civil war, it could have shown more of his background, but instead it concentrated and became mired in early American politics and little else. What an irony though, to think of his emancipation bill being hauled through congress, only to see black folk swinging lynched from trees 100 years later. I was really looking forward to this biopic, but it really isn't what I'd hoped to see.