A powerful, riveting film with an Oscar-baiting performance at its centre.

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2013)

Ask the ordinary bloke in the street to tell you something about Abraham Lincoln (one that isn't an American who learnt about him at school), and he'll probably mutter something about the Gettysburg Address, his assassination at the theatre and the battle to pass the 13th Amendment to end slavery. Two of those momentous events are only lightly dealt with in Spielberg's epic, and that immediately sets him apart from other directors and Lincoln from most biopics.
Where other directors skim through the highlights of a subject's life in a moving scrapbook, The Iron Lady being a prime example, Spielberg has focused on a few short months in the 16th President's second term with intense detail and little action to sidetrack the viewer from the issues at hand. We might expect the Gettysburg Address, but Spielberg settles for giving us just a hint of the power and the effect it had on the American citizens in the 1860s. Instead, the focus of Lincoln is the debating, heckling, arguing and frustration in the House of Representatives and the resulting vote.
Yes, Lincoln is a film where little more than talking occurs. And it is absolutely riveting because of it.
But Spielberg doesn't patronise us with a stilted history lesson. Our ignorance is our own fault, not his duty to rectify, and it is a rare pleasure to be left to work it out rather than given a paint-by-numbers lecture. I found the final vote unexpectedly emotional and tense, despite history telling us the result. But it shouldn't be surprising that the director who made a man driving a car, in Duel, a nail-biting affair should make a vote such a thrilling event.
We see democracy at work, we witness the struggle to achieve one of the greatest moments in a great country's history and it isn't always pretty. Honest Abe, though a hero and a truly great man, was clearly not above manipulation, bribery and threats to achieve what was right and just. In Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal we see a man who wouldn't, and didn't, take no for an answer: "I am the president of the United States of America, clothed in immense power! You will procure me those votes!" We don't accurately know what Lincoln sounded like but from now on he sounded like Day-Lewis. His performance is as measured as we have come to expect from the ultimate Method actor. He is always controlled, restrained, whether contending with his bleating, unstable wife, Mary (Sally Fields), or laying beside his sleeping younger son to kiss him, his movements and speech are deliberate and precise. This is a man who, though anger at injustice bubbles within him, is not reactive but always considered. There is very good reason why the smart money is on Day-Lewis to collect his third Oscar.
Likewise, Fields powerful presence as the wife who is patient and strong for her Presidential husband, while frequently being a thorn in his side, is one that quietly demands plaudits. She remonstrates with him over their older son, Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who wants dearly to join the ranks of the soldiers fighting the Civil War and who cannot earn his father's blessing or kind attention, and she delivers an ultimatum that makes even the most powerful man in the world stop for a moment to appreciate the gravity of the situation.
Yet again (after my comments in The Sessions review), Lincoln is a film that benefits hugely from a fantastic ensemble and it is perhaps unfair to highlight one performer from the supporting actors that include David Strathairn, Hal Holbrook, John Hawkes and James Spader. They bring humour and variety to what is a very intense film, but none of them is merely a foil for Day-Lewis to play off. Tommy Lee Jones, as the irascible Thaddeus Stevens, transcends his usual crusty persona as a man that made others quiver in his presence, an attribute Jones knows all too well, and the actions of the man, as well as the performance of the actor, stay in the mind long after the film has ended.
Lincoln is a fine film. It is a detailed, thrilling film that excites and enthralls because of its intensity and not for its action. It is a film that will stand out as one of the best of the year and will earn a great many awards before the season is over. But it isn't for everyone, as was proved by the two teenage girls who grumbled loudly throughout, "God, this is sooo boring...", but lacked the intelligence to stand up and leave.
But for those who appreciate Spielberg as much for Munich as for ET, I'll give the final word to one of my companions for the evening, a man who refuses to listen to reason and believes Daniel Day-Lewis is a most overrated actor: "I only remembered I was watching Daniel Day-Lewis in the last ten minutes and I have never wanted to applaud a performance in the cinema before tonight."
For more reviews from The Squiss subscribe to my blog at www.thesquiss.co.uk
Like the Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/RpitOG