Wonderful, informative film with good production and acting

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2017)

Firstly, I'd like to say that the film is not centered around Lincoln's life, as I expected, but more on him and his administration's role in the passing of the 13th amendment. Which doesn't necessarily make it bad! It just caught me off guard.
I really did enjoy this film, even though it is not really along the lines of movies that I usually watch. Apart from great content to work from, I thought this movie did a very good job connecting the audience to the characters. It's also very difficult to build the suspense needed in a drama film when the audience already knows what happened in history, and I think the team behind this film did do that very well. I also really enjoyed how they presented the duality of the amendment at every level - for instance, how the Lincolns were divided on the passage of the bill, but presented a united front. This was mimicked in the cabinet and in the house. It shows a more nuanced view of an issue that is usually portrayed as one-sided, whole-heartedly and unitedly supported by the North. Although I sincerely hope that our government actually functions more cohesively than they are portrayed here, this film does create a good sense of the disunity among Republicans and ardent opposition by the Democrats in Congress.
One critique that I would really like to focus on (and this is a more personal preference than anything) is that this movie focuses Lincoln the ideal more than Lincoln the man. With few exceptions, this film depicted Lincoln as poised, rational, and morally just at all times. There was no mention of his infamous letter to Horace Greeley in which he claimed, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it." It also sort of shows Abraham Lincoln as some sort of mighty rock that stood his ground alone against the masses that called for peace at the price of abolition. While this is true to a degree, this movie doesn't really give credit to the century of foundation that abolitionists had already laid for Lincoln to stand and succeed on. Even the few scenes in which Lincoln loses control of his emotions, it is excused as reasonable and unavoidable. This is a pretty typical thing - we tend to portray Lincoln as an epitome of virtue. At the same time, I understand that in a film, character and effect is often more important than strict historical accuracy.