He belongs to the ages...

“Lincoln”
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Tony Kushner
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn
Rated PG-13
149 Minutes

Steven Spielberg’s recent streak of sentimentality fits beautifully into a film like “Lincoln” because it wisely avoids over stretching itself and instead stays focused on Lincoln’s efforts to pass the 13^th Amendment in the last few months of his life.  This is a beautiful picture that plays like a timeless portrait of the man who saw past the simplicity of the slavery issue to raise even bigger questions about the nature of human decency.  Being that America has just come out of one of the most intense elections in history, “Lincoln” couldn’t arrive at a better time.  There is a reason Abraham Lincoln still remains perhaps the Nation’s most revered President, and Spielberg’s film symbolizes that perfectly.

At first, Tony Kushner’s screenplay almost seems overly expository with its dialogue; but then the language comes alive, seamlessly adjusting us to the period.  Familiarity with the politics of the time helps, but is not necessary because the story has such a strong focus on one issue in a brief passage of time that it streamlines the narrative.  The issue at hand is the passing of the 13^th Amendment, which divided the Republicans and Democrats of the time and was seen primarily as a military measure to end the Civil War.  President Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) is starting on his second term in office and intuitively realizes that the issue of slavery will have implications that reverberate long after the war is over.  He implores those closest to him, including Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn) and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field), that in order to again unify the Nation, the amendment must pass. 

Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance is extraordinary.  He is the very embodiment of a President who, stalwart and sleepless, is personable to everyone he meets.  Several times throughout the film, Lincoln conveys important ideas and personal philosophies by telling stories and parables.  He is not above throwing out a humorous quip to sting his protestors and prove a point.  His voice ever-so-slightly betrays his world-weary concerns, which he even tries to keep in check in the presence of his wife, who struggles to keep their son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) from going off to war.  To balance out the performance scale is Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, a prominent Republican leader in the House of Representatives, whose flamboyant nature puts everyone else in their place.  It’s a marvelous role for an actor who has had many marvelous roles.

Janusz Kaminski, Spielberg’s long-time collaborator, will unquestionably be another nominee for best cinematography for his work on “Lincoln.”   Kaminski rivals Terrence Malick in the way he shoots with natural light, and there is a stand-out scene here that if I am not mistaken, was lit solely by a lantern.  This is a motion picture that feels very much of the time period it encapsulates and in some ways works as a companion piece to Spielberg’s “War Horse,” which was also shot by Kaminski in a similarly naturalistic fashion.   

One of the most remarkable aspects of “Lincoln” is how necessary it feels, given how palpably our Nation seemed to be divided at election time.  While the history of what occurred with the amendment is a foregone conclusion, Spielberg wisely doesn’t try to spice things up with contrived suspense but instead invites the audience to be party to the intensity of the conversations as we stand witness to the differing positions that were splitting the parties at the time.  The film’s best scene comes when Lincoln sits in a dimly-lit telegraph office dictating to two young men the message he’d like them to pass along.  He asks them a deeply introspective question and then uses one of the mens' answers to convey implications for all of history.  It’s one of the best moments in any movie I’ve seen this year.

While there are perhaps a few too many characters that leave a couple subplots feeling surprisingly inert, Steven Spielberg has crafted a film very much worthy of its title.  “Lincoln” is his best movie in years and comes at a time when our 16^th President’s legacy is more important than ever.  Lincoln struggled to make people see past partisan issues and look deeply within the human spirit to find our collective guidance.  Pay very close attention to the last thing he says before departing to his fateful appointment at Ford’s theatre.  The poignancy of his words are haunting; and it makes me wonder what he would accomplish were he alive today.