Lincoln- A Movie Review

The weekend of November 9th, brought the much anticipated release of the motion picture Lincoln starring, Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones and countless other great actors too numerous to mention.

The movie has been met with mixed reviews, but whether you liked the movie or not, you can be sure of a couple of things.

One: It was a very interesting history lesson indeed.

Two: Daniel Day Lewis is a shoe in for an Oscar nomination!

The movie opens to a bloody war scene where you first see Lincoln talking to black soldiers who have fought in battle. The whole movie centers around the time when Lincoln has just been reelected and was trying very hard to push for the 13th amendment to end slavery.

This is where many people's views may differ as to what Lincoln's agenda was during this time, or what kind of a man he was. Did he just want the bloody war to end? Sure he did, but it was quite evident in his Emancipation Proclamation, that not only did Lincoln want to end the war , but that he truly felt that every man deserved to be treated equal. Did he have reservations about blacks intermingling with whites? Sure he did, that was evident in the times in which he lived and the way that people were brought up but was he a cruel, uncaring man concerning the slaves, no and if you take anything from this film, I hope it would be that.

Lincoln held strong in his belief that everyone under God is equal, and he managed to convince enough votes to have the Bill passed, making History that would forever change the House of Representatives.

I have loved Daniel Day Lewis since I first saw him in the Last of the Mohicans, back in the day. I have enjoyed every performance no matter what movie he is in. He is just so convincing in every part he plays and in Lincoln he certainly does not disappoint, and actually goes above and beyond what my expectations were for this movie.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone play Lincoln as convincingly as Lewis did as his portrayal of the president. He completely becomes Lincoln in his whole persona. His mannerisms, his gentleness; especially in parts where he is interacting with his children.

But he also brings the weariness that Lincoln must have felt during those war years. His eyes, showed it all, it was as if he was letting you through to Lincoln's soul, somehow Lewis channeling him and allowing you to see inside him and what he was feeling. Someone mentioned that he aged 10 years in only 1 year by his outward appearance, evident also by not only the stress of being the most powerful man in the nation, but also the stress of trying desperately to comfort his wife Mary, whom was never quite the same mentally since their son Willie died: she also blamed Lincoln for their older son Robert joining the military.

I think this movie and movies like this are important, lest we forget the past and the horrors of war. This particular war still being the bloodiest time in our history, and a history that without Abraham Lincoln, would have just been that shameful time in our past, instead of the most controversial and ground breaking vote that has ever passed through this nation.

This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.
--April 6, 1859