Lincoln

Some directors make their mark on Hollywood but then slowly fall out of the spotlight because their subsequent works do not measure up to their past masterpieces. Director Steven Spielberg on the other hand continues to impress everyone despite having already made some of the most enduring movies in history decades earlier. What surprised me the most about "Lincoln" was that it took over a month before I finally saw it. It did not come to my local movie theater on its opening day for some reason and so the first movie I saw after moving to Calgary was this one. I did not want to miss seeing it in theaters. I enjoyed the experience and I have continued to enjoy "Lincoln" after multiple viewings. It is one of those shows that becomes better when you can follow the whole plot. I made sure to watch it on the sesquicentennial anniversary of the passing of the 13th Amendment in the House of Representatives. At many times when I watch the film, I forget that this is a Spielberg film and the only other time that happened to me was with "Schindler's List". It seems that he did little to draw attention to anyone behind the scenes, including himself. Spielberg let the acting, screenplay and design of the film become the central characteristics instead. This is not to say that he did nothing but on the contrary, the decisions he made are indiscernible.

The opening battle was well choreographed because it looks like two groups of people that shouldn't be fighting each other. Brother fights against brother. The scene with the soldiers talking to Abraham Lincoln introduces many of the legendary qualities of Honest Abe. He was witty and funny. He tells stories to get his point across. He towered above everyone even without his hat. Speaking of that, we later see him store speech notes in his hat. That is something I forgot about Lincoln until I saw this film. When the black soldier is talking about the possibilities that can come with the end of slavery, he mentions "getting the vote". That may be a reference to the presidency but I would like to think that it is referencing any political office because back in those days, I bet no one could have imagined an African American president. If it does reference Obama, the movie becomes dated. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that for the first time an African American was elected president of the US; what I don't like is a historical film making apparent allusions to the present. It distracts from the story. Lincoln must handle three conflicts in this show: peace with the south, the amendment and his son's desire to enlist. The outcome of one will affect his dealings with the rest. I enjoy how the complexity of Mary Todd is explained quite clearly in this film. The main story of "Lincoln" is why the passing of the 13th Amendment in the House of Representatives was so important. Everyone wants the war over and some are willing to put that ahead of the Amendment. Getting democratic support is also vital and that means the bill must pass before certain democrats that have lost the election leave the house because these politicians can be swayed. The problem that Thaddeus Stevens poses is that his stance on racial equality may cause the amendment to be tossed aside by even his fellow republicans. Lincoln also wants racial equality it seems but not at the cost of the bill's defeat and the world unfortunately wasn't ready for total equality at that time. I love the subtle joke when voting rights for women is mentioned and everyone in the house vocally objects to that. That joke though has story purposes because it establishes the society of the time period, which is much different than today's. Due to the fact that culture had been that way for so long in regards to African Americans, it was apparent that old habits must die slowly in order for them to die at all. Lincoln knows that you can't get north by heading straight there: you must go around mountains and swamps in order to avoid dying in the process of trying to cross them. I like Lincoln's choice of words when he writes to the house that the Confederate representatives are not in Washington nor will be as far as he knows. He doesn't mention the fact that he is nonetheless perusing a peaceful surrender of the Confederates once the bill passes. I also like the scene between Grant and Lincoln: a future Republican president talking with the current one. Another great moment is the Union officials taking off their hats when Lee is on horseback. It symbolically shows that they truly want to heal old wounds. By the end of the film, we expect to see Ford's Theater but instead we see another theater where Tad Lincoln suddenly hears the news to dramatic effect. The line "Now he belongs to the ages" is spoken so casually that dramatic irony is created. You expect the well-known phrase to be said with passion, almost melodramatically but instead it is delivered realistically as if it was not meant to be carved in stone on the side of a large tomb. I like that. The Second Inaugural Address that Lincoln gave seems to hint that while divine will is unknowable, righteousness in the country allows God's will to go forth. That is an important message because today, we are in danger as a society of sacrificing responsibility for additional freedoms. Just because you want the right to do something, doesn't mean you should have it. We are all children of God and a child may want to eat candy all day long but will that be good for him? In today's society, new cries to change laws are falsely likened unto the cries to end of slavery and segregation. The way I see it, discrimination against a lifestyle is very different than discrimination against a person's skin color. To clarify, I am not talking about discrimination against a person because of their lifestyle. Rather, I am talking only about opposing the lifestyle itself. How can we tell what is actually good for the people of a country? How can we avoid unforeseen consequences for giving out freedoms solely because people want it? The answer lies in this final scene of the movie, when Lincoln quotes the Bible. God can tell us what is best for a country if we will but listen for his guiding spirit. We can't do that if we are living unrighteously. God will not tell us the end but he can guild us towards it. The movie ends quite suddenly, as if Lincoln is in the middle of speaking. That is an interesting choice.

As mentioned, it is hard to remember the filmmakers while watching this show and it is because of the acting, design and screenwriting. While part of me wishes that Liam Neeson (who portrayed Oskar Schindler for Spielberg) had stayed on to play Lincoln, I did not want past roles of the actor to distract me. Because this was my first film of the then two-time Oscar winning actor Daniel Day Lewis, I truly believed his performance. After Neeson dropped out and Lewis was offered the job, Lewis at first declined but Leonardo DiCaprio changed his mind. Lewis was a method actor in that he stayed in character even off camera. This affected Spielberg to the point that he wore a suit sometimes and did not wear his trademark baseball caps when working because he felt out of place in the presence of the "President". I love what Lewis said during his acceptance speech when he won the Screen Actors Guild award: "...it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln and therefore somehow is only fitting every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again." I was also impressed by the performances of Oscar winners Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Jones was the perfect choice for Stevens. Stevens' cane is actaully Jones' cane that he bought years before the movie was filmed. I also liked Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lee Pace. I wonder if I subconsciously recognized Pace from "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". "Lincoln" is also the movie that I consider to be my introduction to Adam Driver. His principle scene in this show is a memorable one. At one point in production, the script was going to cover Lincoln's entire presidency and that would have been interesting. The final version is still so masterfully written by Tony Kushner. It feels like it was written in the time period it is set in. I love all the stories and jokes that Lincoln has as well as Stevens' lines. I could immediately tell that the production designer from "War Horse" had followed Spielberg into "Lincoln". What amazed me though was that the designs of these two films are both similar and distinct from one another. What makes them different is lighting as accomplished by two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (he has done all of Spielberg's movies since "Schindler's List"). The lighting of the scenes in "Lincoln" made the settings very realistic. I believed that I was seeing 1860's America and it is thanks to Kaminski and the now two-time Oscar winning set designer Rick Carter, who first worked for Spielberg on "Jurassic Park" if you don't include the last two "Back to the Future" films. Spielberg had other familiar collaborators work on "Lincoln" such as producer Kathleen Kennedy, editor Michael Khan and musical composer John Williams. One thing I loved about Williams' work on "Lincoln" is that just like Spielberg, his contribution is not as noticeable considering his resume. The music was very good and I could not sense any resemblance to Williams' other works until the end credits. My favorite sound designers and editors worked on this film: Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom. For the sound of the president's watch, they recorded Abe Lincoln's actual watch from the Kentucky Historical Society. The White House scene when Lincoln and Tad hear the first sounds of celebration as the bill is passed is noteworthy. Burtt was granted permission to go to the White House to record a period clock ticking. The bells are actual ones in close proximity to the White House and the cannons are period cannons.

I saw this movie for the second time in theaters on January 30 and I wish I had waited until the next day, being the anniversary of 13th Amendment being passed in the House. After buying this movie on Blu-ray, I started reading "A. Lincoln" by Ronald C. White, Jr. one page per day. On January 31 of the next year (2013) by complete coincidence, I was reading about this important event in that book. I also took time that day to watch this movie again. Spielberg's decisions were masterful in that they were imperceptible. He knew he was making a different kind of film; one that required him to run the metaphorical puppet show with strings more invisible than ever before. The same can be said for the musical score. The story came first with this movie and I value that in a film more than any other quality. The acting was superb. I have seen many other films depicting this era and out of all them, this film was the most realistic from a design standpoint. The script was also very genuine. Spielberg, Lewis, Jones and Field seemed to be nominated for every award they could qualify for and it is a testament to the film's authentic feel. Lewis won the Golden Globe & the SAG Award (as mentioned) for Best Actor and Jones won the SAG award for supporting. The film had more Oscar nominations than any other movie from 2012: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Musical Score, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Production Design, Sound Mixing and Adapted Screenplay. I wanted it to win most of those but it only won for Best Actor and Production Design. Those were well chosen and because Lewis won, he is the first male actor to win three Oscars for leading roles. I really wanted Williams to win for Musical Score as usual and Spielberg derserved to win that night more than Ang Lee did by far. Nevertheless, it is another home run for a director whose name was already immortal over ten years ago.

4 Stars