Saw this yesterday with the wife. Place was pretty packed, actually. I would highly recommend this film, although a love of history to go along with a love of film might be necessary. Spielberg didn't get too hagiographic, even if you can't avoid it completely (I mean, it is about Abraham Lincoln, you know?) Day-Lewis makes for an unbelievable Lincoln. He completely inhabits the part, makes him both human and the bigger-than-life person at the same time. Sally Field will be back in the hunt for an Oscar, too. Tommy Lee Jones was excellent as Thaddeus Stevens, also just might win another Oscar. His dialogue was pitch-perfect. Other actors worthy of note include James Spader (he was a lot of fun as a political gun-for-hire) and....hell, the whole cast. I've been reading about the Civil War lately so as to un-dumb myself after all these years (too much TV and such) so this was particularly interesting material to me, as you could draw some parallel to modern times with the political arm-twisting that just might go down between Obama and the House. (Not that Obama will go down in history as another Lincoln, mind you, just the parallel of how things change and how things stay the same. The things Lincoln did to pass the bill would have buried him today.) Anyway, if for only the performances, you might give it a try. Spoiler alert: Spoiler Lincoln dies in the end.
I also saw this on opening day. Terrific movie that really draws you in. Any time I go to a Daniel Day Lewis movie I have high expectations and this did not let down. I really felt like Daniel Day Lewis did a great job of showing the true Lincoln, not the mythical figure that has been brought up in our minds. He was flawed, funny and inspiring. Once quick tangent, here in Idaho the theater was about 1/3 full, and I was the youngest guy in the theater. I am 35 by the way. As I was walking out of the theater there were throngs of kids/adults, waiting with baited breath to get into that travesty of a film Twilight. . . . . I walked away from Lincoln with something deep to think about. My wife came back from Twilight a few nights later and complained how brainless the movie was.
I heard a discussion of the era on NPR. One historian made the statement that fully one-third of the Union army would have walked away had they thought they were fighting for emancipation rather than against secession. He also made a comment about one of the authors of the 14th amendement (a man from Ohio, no less) is on record making the comment that ~"this did not mean that blacks would be voting anytime soon." His over-arching point was that we have revised history to make the South full of racist dullards and the North full of icons of virtue.
This movie was terrible. I was disappointed Spielberg did not even mention once that Lincoln was a vampire hunter. pfft.
Great film. I think Day Lewis and Jones will get oscars, they killed it. Fields might get nominated just because of the acclaim the film has received, but IMO she did not do well enough to warrant an oscar. She had a few very strong scenes, but the role was not as large as I thought it would be.
They were racist enough dullards to fight an inevitably losing war in defense of white supremacy, and immediately begin slaughtering successful or socially assertive blacks or any advocates of black suffrage the minute they were left to their own devices. They were vile and disgusting and laid A CENTURY'S WORTH of legal and normative ground work -- in states with the largest black populations in country, by the way, for permanent racial inequality that naive or self-serving whites pretend to explain away with "cultural differences." Good job deflecting and sublimating those lazy views with the "NPR" reference, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech
Whoouhe, pouhe! I don't know which thread to rep you for right now! I leave you with this: Jeremy Lincoln
