Spielberg at his terrific best with Lincoln!!

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2013)

I walked in to this movie with high expectations from Spielberg (as usual). One of his recent past movie 'The War Horse' was elegantly presented on screen by him. In this movie 'Lincoln', Spielberg gives us (the audience) a fine glimpse into the life and workings of the 16th President of the United States presiding over a period of internal strife of Civil War. Daniel Day Lewis has literally sunk his teeth into the character to portray Lincoln and all along the movie we (as audience) observe and feel that Abe Lincoln is on screen and not DDL. DDL has been ably supported by Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln in a role that shows her in sheer pain and despair owing to the death of one of their sons. Tommy Lee Jones stars as a slavery-abolition favoring congressman Stevens and perfectly fits into that role. The rest of the supporting cast is equally good and impressive including Joseph Gordon Levitt.
The movie gives the audience a fair understanding of the heavy polarized political environment of the day during the ongoing civil war. It also tells us on how Lincoln attempted every guile of the political trade in order to ensure that slavery of African American people is ended with, war is brought to a close and the intense wrangling and maneuver along the way. The movie also gives a glimpse of Lincoln as a grief-torn father, a loving husband apart from being a shrewd political leader. Kudos to Spielberg for bringing about the various facets of Lincoln in an astonishing manner.
DDL deserves to win the 'Best Actor' Oscar for his portrayal here and I see that this movie has chance to grab few more. Overall, I feel that the movie has portrayed Lincoln in all possible facets of his life, in a best possible manner.
My rating would be a 8 out of 10. Regards, Ganesh.