Whitney Cyr
Managing Executive Editor
When Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field and Steven Spielberg all magically align to make a historical film on the last months of President Abraham Lincoln’s life, it’s nearly impossible to make a bad film–and that is exactly “Lincoln’s” problem.
Spielberg’s latest film doesn’t pull any cinematic surprises–it’s a story we are all familiar with, involving one of America’s most beloved figures and it’s told with some of the best actors in the business.
The problem is, however, everything goes exactly how you would expect it. Spielberg doesn’t push himself creatively as a director for the film, and it’s a story that everyone already knows the ending of.
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Not that it’s Spielberg’s fault his subject is so well-known, but it could have been an opportunity to approach the subject differently and daringly, which he does not.
Nonetheless, overall the film is effective on many levels in its historical accuracy, in its emotional depth and in its performances.
“Lincoln” centers around America’s sixteenth president near the end of the Civil War as he tries to push the thirteenth amendment through Congress, which would officially abolish slavery.
The film also focuses on how Lincoln struggles to keep the nation together and try to keep his family happy.
Lincoln’s wife, played by the tenacious Sally Field, is a force to be reckoned with–she is emotionally unstable, but a constant reminder that their marriage had to be sacrificed in order for Lincoln to address the needs of a nation in turmoil.
Daniel Day-Lewis once again puts in a tour-de-force performance.
A testament to the benefits and amount of work involved in Method acting, Day-Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2007 for “There Will be Blood.” Day-Lewis often plays characters seething with hatred, like “There Will Be Blood’s” Daniel Plainview and Bill the Butcher in “Gangs of New York.”
Day-Lewis morphs into one of America’s most beloved figures. It’s as though Day-Lewis lived in the skin of the character. You can’t imagine someone else fulfilling the role.
President Lincoln was 56 when he was assassinated in Ford’s Theater by Confederate spy John Wilkes Booth, but Daniel Day-Lewis makes it clear Lincoln has prematurely aged as a result of the war.
You can almost feel the weariness in his bones when he kneels down to pick up his son sleeping on the floor.
One aspect that shines through is Lincoln’s wit, his proclivity to tell stories to the exasperation of the people around him, but most of all his strong sense of conviction and character, in addition to the power of his moral fiber.
Despite his frail or tired physical appearance, Day-Lewis is the powerful and endearing center on which this film rotates, surrounded by a multitude of amazing actors in and of themselves.
The audience falls in love with Lincoln and his gentle spirit but also his quiet sense of power.
At one poignant part of the film, Lincoln attempts to negotiate with some of the Confederates, asking for unconditional surrender.
However, instead of demands Day-Lewis surveys the man sitting across the table from him and says, “Shall we stop this bleeding?” Day-Lewis only parcels out Lincoln’s rage when nothing else will do.
In addition to Daniel Day-Lewis, the other actors in the film are not to go unnoticed. Tommy Lee Jones plays the cantankerous, grumpy abolitionist Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.
In another scene stealing turn, James Spader plays Bilbo, Lincoln’s political operative, who’s seemingly impossible task is to persuade white Southern Democrats to vote in favor of the thirteenth amendment.
“Lincoln” provides a narrow, telescopic view of the last few months on Lincoln’s life in events that serve not to tell a story in three cinematic parts, but a snapshot of events within those months that tell the story of who Lincoln was.
Overall, Spielberg’s cinematography suffers from the camera’s lack of movement, resulting in a more meditative, lingering film that could use more motion.
The cinematography resembles a daguerreotype in its antique sepia tones, paired with the lush costuming of its actors. Spielberg’s portrait of Lincoln avoids the pitfalls of rousing speeches and war scenes.
One amazing directorial choice of Spielberg’s, however, was shooting Daniel Day-Lewis in empty spaces, devoid of people and cast only in shadows.
It’s as if to say despite the film shedding light on Lincoln, there are unknowable parts to every great man and that they will always remain, at least partially, in the dark.
Overall:
4/5
Whitney Cyr can be contacted at
wcyr@keene-equinox.com