Lincoln: a recommend

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2012)

The movie LINCOLN occurs during the time period of January, 1865 till his assassination, April 15, 1865. Specifically, LINCOLN concerns itself with discussion/passage in the House of Representative of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. Lincoln lays out parameters of the discussion within minutes of the opening. As president he assumed the right to take property--Black slaves--from rebels; after the war--and he thought the war would be ending soon either militarily or with diplomacy--would he be obligated to return that property--Black slaves--to the rebels? A need for an Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery once and for all from the Union was a necessity--else the carnage of the war--600,000 soldiers died, North and South--would be for naught. And it had to be done before war's end because the block of Southern States would not allow passage of such an amendment.
The movie shows Lincoln as a nuts and bolts politician that Lyndon Johnson would admire. Like Johnson, a person who felt no hesitation to use his size, his prestige, his office to get this Amendment passed. A person not afraid to work with the nitty-gritty politicos responsible for arm-twisting, cajoling representatives; a person counting where the votes are required and who can be counted on to deliver; a president not above politics but willing and able to walk the tightrope that politics demands.
Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln, Sally Fields as Mary Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Thadeus Stevens, Hal Holbrook as Francis Preston Blair, Lincoln adviser--for whom Blair House is his heritage to the nation--all of them performed admirably--channeling the personalities. Normally, I don't think actors deserve accolades, because--after all--that's why they get paid millions; in this instance, they deserve praise.
LINCOLN is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book TEAM OF RIVALS; but a movie is not a documentary, a movie is a recreation for purpose of telling a dramatic story. Did the events unfold the way the movie suggests? At the end of the movie, for example, a large group blacks are led into the House Chamber balcony just as the vote is about to be made to remind the representatives that there were flesh and blood Black people involved in this decision. Did this event actually occur, does Miss Goodwin document this incident, or is this Steven Spielberg re-invention of history? (Not an insignificant question.) In the end, one is compelled to read her book, A TEAM OF RIVALS.
There is a big caveat. Who was who in the drama needed to be highlighted. They highlighted the Southern functionaries negotiating for peace; it would have been equally helpful to label more frequently the players, either by mentioning their name, or naming them by highlighting on screen. Eventually, the viewer got the idea, but it took a while.