|
Lincoln / rated PG-13 for dirty politics and war.
This long time coming pet project of Steven Spielberg’s has finally made it to the big screen. It runs 2½ hours and covers a period from January to April of 1865. This is the last 3½ months of the Lincoln Presidency. As it turns out, although Lincoln is the key character, the movie is not about Lincoln as much as it concerns the politics behind the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Daniel Day Lewis plays Honest Abe about as well as he can be played. DDL’s screen representation shows Lincoln as he was which was apparently a cross between a home spun Will Rogers type from the sticks and a sage politician and wise leader. Also in the cast is Sally Fields as Mrs. Lincoln who is distraught about possibly losing a son which causes her to be drama queen crazy from time to time. Other prominent parts go to Tommy Lee Jones, Hal Holbrook and James Spader. John Williams’ Americana score is subtle and dead on.
The film is more informative than entertaining. It is over dramatic and talky and seems set on teaching us all about the birth of the 13th amendment. It tries to create a suspenseful situation about whether or not it will get passed by Congress before Lincoln‘s deadline date of January 31st or be voted down by the Democrats again. Suspense is never really in issue. We all know the amendment was adopted which help lead ultimately to his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth. The film is lushly produced and well worth your time if you enjoy good acting. There is plenty of that in Lincoln.
In 1972 the Broadway musical “1776” was brought to the big screen with the signing of the Declaration of Independence as it’s main subject. There was still time for singing and dancing as the politicians wound their way through the process of the birth of a Nation, the USofA. It was writer Peter Hunt’s screen story debut and was not only entertaining but it had some good musical numbers and lots of humor. It also taught about the history of it’s subject with a number of terrific ironies in the conclusion.
If Spielberg didn’t want to make a musical, he should have taken a lesson from history and created a film that would have included adding a lighter touch, even though the seriousness of his film was self evident. This is movie making and not to be confused with crafting a good documentary. These truths we believe are self evident, the right of the audience to be entertained, not just awestruck by the acting. 1776 is available on DVD and highly recommended. Lincoln is in the theaters and a little less so.
Rated 3.0 out of 4.0 Spirits of ‘76. Let Freedom Wave.
|
