A New Look on One of Our Greatest Presidents

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2013)

Daniel Day Lewis is Abraham Lincoln. The amazing actor makes history as he wins his third Oscar for best actor in a leading role. Lewis gives possibly his best performance to date as he plays the aging Lincoln as he enters his second term and tries to pass the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery. This best picture nomination had a strong cast in Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and of course, Daniel Day Lewis. In my opinion this movie deserved the best picture over Argo, but this was still an excellent film, easily the best I have seen in a while.
I always pictured Abraham Lincoln as a tall strong man with a deep and powerful voice. Steven Spielberg teaches me a history lesson with how Lincoln was. Lewis portrays him as a gentle and kind human being with a soft and subtle voice. He is charming and smart and the way he talks gets people excited. He provides humor and charm when he talks and it is factors like these which could possibly make him the greatest president this country has ever seen. The most amazing part of this movie is Lincoln himself and how it was an uphill battle to abolish slavery. He knew in his heart that it was wrong. He believed in the idea that all men are created equal and he also knew the only way to end the Civil War and unite the country once again was to end slavery. He gave countless speeches and monologues throughout the film and every time I would stop and just listen to his voice. Not so much what he was saying but how he said it. His delivery was perfect and I felt like I wasn't watching a move but I was actually there. It is rare that a movie actually does that for anybody.
During that time some people considered Lincoln to be a tyrant. A tyrant is easily the wrong word but he was a larger than life character. He can be a little arrogant at times saying he is the most powerful man in the world and the leader of the United States, or something to that extent. He was a larger than life character but Sally Field keeps him in check as she plays Lincolns wife almost too well. I love Sally Field because she tries so hard in every role from Mrs. Doubtfire to Forrest Gump. She goes into a role and feels the character and nails it. She always gives it her all, but in Lincoln she gives a little more. She makes Lincoln more human. She does not want her son, Joseph Gordon Levitt, going to fight the war. This brings a small conflict that fits really well in the movie overall. Lincoln has enough on his plate and now he has to deal with his crazy family. My favorite scene is when Lincoln tells his wife that their son will be going into war but he will be safe. Mrs. Lincoln just loses it and Sally Field pours all of this emotion out and Lincoln reacts and gets angry, and even starts to yell. This scene is my favorite because it shows that Abraham Lincoln was a human being with emotions and flaws. This scene shows his flaw and that he cannot always keep himself in line and he can lose his temper. We dig into the past history as he says he should have sent his wife to the crazy house. Mrs. Lincoln just snaps back with a perfect comment saying if he wanted to he would have just done it. This scene shows some of the best acting in the entire movie with the emotion and humanity shown in the larger than life characters in American history. Steven Spielberg spent years researching Abraham Lincoln and the time when the 13th Amendment was struggling to be passed. He wanted this movie to be as accurate as possible and he delivers once again. Everything this man touches to gold. He is such a dedicated director and he deserved his nomination for best director at the Oscars, but I'm not surprised he didn't win. He makes sure his actors portray his vision in the best way possible and the years of hard work paid off. He presents another amazing movie about American history to the world and brings a fresh and new aspect to this time period. This movie needs to be seen by the American people. It surely isn't for everybody because it can be boring and drag but people need to know what this movie is about. This movie has no action scenes, no battles, all the actions is done n the acting and the words. Even the music was almost nonexistent. John Williams does the score but some scenes have very little music in them. This is rare for a movie but knowing Spielberg he wants the music to relate with the time period, as any director should, but it's hard to find out the types of music that was playing during that time period so no music works. Overall, Lincoln was the best movie I have seen in a long time. Everything works. I saw this twice in the past few days and I'm tried to find flaws but there really were none. The only thing I can think of is that it can be boring at parts but the audience needs to know what they are getting into. Any student who loves history or a movie with incredible acting and dialog will love this movie. Any scrub who wants a Michael Bay explosion-fest will be disappointed. This movie needs to be seen, it is very educational and real. Show it in schools, force kids to watch this movie because it shows the darkest part of our history. I'm reaching my 1000 word limit so Lincoln gets the WillyT Seal of approval. See you next time!