Movie: Lincoln

Lincoln: only Steven Spielberg could give us a film about making sausage – in this case, a realistic showing of how the 13^th Amendment abolishing slavery was passed – and hold our interest for 2 hours 25 minutes, without Bond special effects.  The movie opens with a Savings Private Ryan scene of Black Union soldiers killing Confederate soldiers in hand-to-hand combat but the scene is not that long and most of the rest of the film is about what takes place in Washington.  The movie time line is 1865 and there are no flashbacks.  Towards the end of the movie there are scenes making it graphically clear just how destructive of life was the Civil War but the movie focus is on what it took politically for the House of Representatives to pass the 13^th amendment.   Lincoln is shown to be an LBJ master of the process.  This realistic portrayal is not your high school civics course on how legislation occurs.   Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln may have won himself another Oscar.   He is a remarkable actor.   The entire cast is remarkable.   Tommy Lee Jones as Representative Thaddeus Stevens, the head of the Radical Republicans, gives an exceptional performance.  Sally Field as Mrs. Lincoln will probably receive an Oscar nomination for her performance as  her Mary Todd Lincoln is not the stereotype one dimension shrill/mentally unstable person found in many history books.   As with Jones performance, the real person was much more complex.   The movie script by Tony Kushner is also Oscar quality.   There is humor, particularly the James Spader character W. N. Bilbo, one of three lobbyists hired by William Seward (David Strathairn) to bribe, cajole or whatever else was needed to get 20 Democrats to join the Republicans in voting for the amendment.  The reality and meaning  of the word freedom is set forth in all its complexity.   This could become a very lengthy review as there is much to praise including additional actors such as Gloria Reuben and Hal Holbrook.   I think John Williams will win another Oscar nomination for his music score along with the cinematographer.   There are movies yet to be seen in 2012 but I can’t imagine anyone other than Spielberg winning the Oscar for best director.   A complex story is told while keeping your attention throughout.  Every American should see this film.