Highly detailed, well acted but sometimes tedious

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2013)

Firstly, Daniel Day-Lewis gave a great performance, worthy of an Oscar. Leaving that aside, the film can be described as a reconstruction in great detail. This was necessary because many Americans already know much of the story and would rightly complain if Hollywood simplified this bit of their history with its quasi-religious overtones. However there were occasions when you would have liked them to just get on with it. Despite this precision, the anachronistic recitation of the Gettysburg Address by the soldiers is so obviously clunky that it is a wonder that Spielberg didn't spot it. With Lincoln himself available, it seems that he should have given his own speech. The apologies inserted at the end for things that Lincoln wished he hadn't said also seemed to be a blatant piece of Band-Aid. Interestingly, instead of scene in Ford's Theatre, they had a scene in another theater reminiscent of Erich Leinsdorf's announcement of the assassination of President Kennedy.
For me the film highlighted the fundamental flaw with the American Constitution that is still with us today. To get things done the proverbial 'pork-barrel' is still needed. There often has to be something in it for everyone, whatever the merits of any given proposition on its own. Vested interests still rule and in an era of fiscal cliffs, this is worrying.