Lincoln

Warning: I loved this film and there will be gushing.

What has Steven Spielberg wrought? Remember when Schindler’s List was being made and there was controversy about a director of blockbusters tackling serious fare? Now he is perhaps better known to younger generations for his filmic lessons in history than for Jaws. I believe that the better of Spielberg’s movies always plumbed the depths underneath their blockbuster veneers but that’s a matter for another blog entry.

Here we have Lincoln. A Spielbergian masterpiece. Spieibergian because there are few other directors who can wring more emotion out of a shot than he. A masterpiece because the humble figure at its center reins in some of Spielberg’s tendencies to go unrestrainedly for the sentimental.

Lincoln in profile, in silhouette, his stooping but solid yet fragile walk framed from behind. Tenderly rendered scenes between him and his beloved son Tad. Lincoln, lit as though from a heavenly source when characters around him are in darkness, but not so much as to detract from the story, the moment, or his common humanity. Lincoln the icon. Lincoln the man. Spielberg strikes and maintains balance between the two.

Some have questioned why this film is called Lincoln when it deals mostly with passage of the 13th Amendment. May I be so bold to say that they have missed the point. Lincoln, by all accounts and as depicted here, was a man who would not have brooked a film that centered too much upon him. To paraphrase Dickens mankind was his business, and a film that expands its focus to matters that affect the common people further reveals Lincoln’s character.

Daniel Day-Lewis disappears entirely, he has won Best Actor in the history books no matter who the Oscar goes to. It was interesting to contrast Lewis to James Spader and Tommy Lee Jones. The latter excel in playing specific types of characters, or are only offered certain roles, while Lewis is more a chameleon, save that his characters consistently convey great intensity. There is merit and worth in both “types” of acting as shown in this film. We expect Jones to be irascible and strong and Spader to be ambivalent and slippery. Would Lewis be as satisfying as them if he were in their roles? I doubt it, I don’t know. Was he perfect as Lincoln? Without question.

Sally Fields has the near thankless task of bringing an unsympathetic historical figure to life in a few scenes, but no worries she’s a pro. Her Mary Todd Lincoln burns with pain, grief, worry, intelligence, and love. Sufferers of migraines, chronic pain, and trauma, behold how her pinkie trembles as she holds her head, her veins so taut under the skin, how tightly wound her muscles are around her frame. Where’s the Sally Fields Mary Todd Lincoln movie?

Were there missteps? It’s a wordy film. There are a lot of ‘Lincoln as icon’ shots. But only one scene took me out of the movie. After Lincoln’s death there is a close-up of a candle’s light, and within this light he is shown giving a speech. In his quest to convey emotion Spielberg sometimes goes too far. For me, this was too much.

There are scenes I’m sure historians will quibble about and that’s fine. I believe the film could have been longer to widen the scope further. Many movies address historical events most impactful to African-Americans from a white perspective. The decisions made here, some heightened and some subtle, include the African-American experience, but this is primarily a white man’s story. This does not decrease the legitimacy or importance of this film, but it does underscore the need for films from multiple perspectives.

This film will likely become required viewing in history classrooms across our nation. I hope this does not prevent students from seeing its underlying hope for America and humanity, and the unfathomable character of our greatest President, Lincoln.

Random Thoughts:

-I cried and cried. It took effort not to sob aloud during the film. I sat in the theater bathroom stall afterward, shaking from restraining my emotion, just letting the tears roll. Why so much emotion?

*That it was ever a hotly debated question that slavery needed to be abolished. This alone is enough to make me despair for us all.

*In the past year I have visited Ford’s Theater and the site of Lincoln’s death, the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL, and his grave. I was moved beyond words in all of these places by Lincoln’s generous spirit, his melancholia, and his leadership.

*I have seen myself decline into a state of chronic pain and despair from which I’m only recently emerging and can identify with some of Mary Todd Lincoln’s struggles. She had so much more loss than I have had, and thinking about her pressures as First Lady and her suffering in an age without adequate medical or mental health is staggering. In one scene Lincoln asks her to take the liberal rather than selfish view and I thought, she’s giving all she can and more, “selfish” or not.

*Have we ever really got over this period in history? Might things be different now if Lincoln led Reconstruction? I don’t know. I was especially haunted by the latter question while touring the Lincoln Museum. We seem so divided right now I sometimes fear there’s an internal crisis building. As the credits rolled I prayed to God to bless our nation. Did the Civil War only delay the inevitable?

*Roger Ebert once said that it’s not tragedy that moves us most, but goodness. This is true for me.

-Fact: Elizabeth Keckley was more than ‘servant’ to Mary Todd Lincoln. She was a confidante, a lifelong support to Mrs. Lincoln. To what extent Mrs. Lincoln could reciprocate given her struggles isn’t clear, although her reliance on Ms. Keckley is certain. Where’s her movie?

-Fact: Thaddeus Stevens and his African-American ‘housekeeper’ were a common-law couple. And this was one of the worst kept secrets in DC at the time. Where’s their movie?

-On a lighter note, can we moviegoers stop getting up in arms about who’s playing national icons? So Lewis and Jared Harris (a doppleganger for General Grant; Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) are Brits. So what. They’re the right men for the job. Robert Downey Jr. makes for an engaging albeit unconventional Sherlock. That’s OK too.