Daniel Day Does It Again

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2012)

You make it your mission to rid your nation of its most shameful human rights violation. While fighting a war to achieve that goal, you're simultaneously trying to pass legislation in furtherance of that goal. What if you fail?
Abraham Lincoln (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) has brought the south to the edge of defeat in The Civil War but has yet to pass the thirteenth amendment which will outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude. He feels that he can't end the war without first passing the amendment. His cabinet, in contrast, feels they will not be able to pass the amendment if they are not trying to end the war. His Secretary of State, William Seward (played by David Strathairn) tells him that peace and the amendment are mutually exclusive. Debates among congressmen rage on the floor on a constant basis with arguments in favor of abolition being voiced by Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and arguments opposing abolition coming from Fernando Wood (played by Lee Pace) and George H. Pendleton (played by Peter McRobbie). Behind the scenes, operative William N. Bilbo (played by James Spader) is constructing backroom, and in some cases backwoods, deals that will ensure anyone who may vote for the amendment will and anyone who won't will abstain. As far as any struggles Abraham Lincoln is dealing with in his home life, his son, Robert Todd Lincoln (portrayed by Joseph Gordon- Leavitt), has abandoned studies at Harvard to join the Union army. His mother, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (portrayed by Sally Field) is foursquare against the idea of her son going to war, as she is still dealing with the loss of two sons. Edward Baker Lincoln who died in 1850 and William Wallace Lincoln who succumbed to typhoid fever one year prior to the Emancipation Proclamation.
I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this movie. Some actors simply play themselves while answering to different names and others disappear into a role. Where Bruce Willis is the former, Daniel Day-Lewis is most definitely the latter. Makeup or no, this is not an actor's portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, this is a brilliant man transforming himself into the most courageous politician this country's ever known. Likewise, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, a man even more devoted to the cause of abolishing slavery but far less concerned with matters such as tact and courtesy steals every scene he is in. There is no justification for foregoing this movie for this long but, if you haven't seen it yet, you should. It is brilliant.