Maybe the best film ever about American politics...and history as well

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2013)

There is nothing I can say here about the incredible work of Daniel Day- Lewis that has not already been said; his Abraham Lincoln is truly one of the finest recreations of an historical figure on film ever. And not just any historical figure, but next to George Washington, the greatest icon in American history. All great praise as well to Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn, James Spader, Jared Harris, Bruce McGill, Lee Pace and all the rest who bring the varied historical figures of 1865 Washington D.C. to life again.
But I want to give my praise to Director Steven Spielberg and screen writer Tony Kushner for giving us a wonderfully realistic, and at the same time, positive portrayal of how the American political system worked. And hopefully still does. The story of slavery and its demise through the adoption of the 13th Amendment is one fraught with heavy history, yet Spielberg and Kushner lay it out in a manner that is fair and at the same time, gives us an understanding of the context of 1865 and a nation weary after 4 years of a bloody Civil War. Differing figures, like Jones's Thaddeus Stevens, wanted to end slavery at any cost, while others like Holbrook's Preston Blair, who only wanted to end the bloodshed at any cost, are portrayed as sincere in their desires, if flawed in their means. Those on the wrong side of history, like the Confederate negotiators, are not the racist buffoons that pop culture demands they be, but merely patriots in service to a very bad cause. I seriously doubt that revisionist historians, like the late Howard Zinn,would care much for this movie.
That having to bend the rules, if not outright break them and suffer the consequences, is sometimes necessary for the right cause to triumph is not something taught in a civics class, but the right lesson to be learned in the real world. That Lincoln knew this and acted upon it, as shown in Kushner's script, is proof of our 16th President's genius.
Steven Spielberg is the cinema's master storyteller and his Lincoln is one of his best efforts; a masterful and illuminating look at a man, a moment, and vital part of our history.