Pretty good history lesson

Rating: 8/10 (9 September 2015)

Not usually a fan of Spielberg but I feel he's done a pretty good job here. Not an expert on US history either, nevertheless he seems to get across many of the nuances of the abolitionist movement and the compromises it had to make. There's no use imposing 21st century post- civil rights values on this era, things were more complicated. I can see this movie being used in schools and I expect to return to it to better understand key moments in the birth of the modern United States. It's beautiful to look at too, with top-notch costumes, cinematography and music - and it goes without saying that Day Lewis is superb, and his resemblance to Lincoln uncanny