Lincoln (***)

Despite the title, this is not a biography, but a film about the legislative process, though with the 16th U.S. president (Daniel Day-Lewis) in the featured role. Though it veritably canonizes the man, it’s still a film for political and historical junkies more than those who simply like films about important personages. Certainly Lincoln did not have the voice of an important personage, if we can believe the historical accounts and Day-Lewis’s attempt at re-creating his thin voice. Instead, he carries the day by always seeming thoughtful and only seeming forceful when the occasion suits.

Partly basing his account on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, utilizing a script by Tony Kushner, director Steven Spielberg focuses on the last four months of Lincoln’s life, in particular the push to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in January 1865. With not enough representatives of Lincoln’s own Republican party to guarantee passage, logrolling, arm-twisting, and the occasion appeal to principal are the order of the day to secure the 20 or so Democratic votes needed. Besides placating his own cabinet, who question the timing of the vote, Lincoln and his designated representatives face two dangers: first, that word of a possible negotiated end to the war will cost the votes of those who only favor the amendment because it might hasten that end, and second, that radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) will frighten potential yes votes by speaking of voting rights and the equality of the races.

By not really challenging any of Lincoln’s actions, the film does not quite place us in the moment in the way a film like Primary Colors, centered around a more obviously flawed politician (based on Bill Clinton), does. That is, one watches the film with the present-day certitude that the president’s course was correct, as we know that it did result in the abolition of slavery. When Lincoln speaks of violating the Constitution to accomplish his larger goal of protecting the union, no character makes a strong argument against his having done so. Will the controversial security policies of the last decade seem as uncontroversial in 150 years? In any case, the film makes the best possible case for pragmatism and for politics in service of principle being a worthy calling.

What does place us in the moment is Day-Lewis’s performance, which would be uncanny even if Lincoln were not a famous figure. His speech sounds decidely pre-modern, in contrast to most of the other actors. His dialogue, filled with Lincoln’s actual recorded words (“flub-dubs” being one insult in the script), contrast also with a few more modern phrasings elsewhere (e.g., “I’ll be fucked,” a figurative phrase that seems out of time). Additionally, the dingy rooms and sets seem appropriate. The amendment and the vote-gathering process account for most of the drama, but the 2.5-hour film also takes time to account for the president’s family life, including a nuanced portrait of his relationships with the First Lady (Sally Field) and older son Robert. (A younger son, Tad, lived at the White House.) The film does move forward to the assassination, and a coda doubles back to Lincoln reading the Second Inaugural Address, famous for speaking of “malice toward none; with charity for all.” As does the clunky opening, the scene looks forward and makes one wish that attitude prevailed everywhere and in every person.

IMDb link

viewed 12/2/12 4:45 pm at Ritz 16 and reviewed 12/2/12