Lincoln, Lincoln, I've Been Thinkin'

What worried me, going into "Lincoln," was Steven Spielberg's last film, "War Horse." It was a beautiful film, made with great skill and technique, but also a terribly indulgent one. The sentiment and the pathos were laid on so thick, at times they seemed close to parody. So when I heard that Spielberg's next film was to be about Abraham Lincoln, one of the United States' most celebrated and venerated historical figures, I feared the worst. Lincoln is a practically mythical character in films, the great frontier folk hero of John Ford's "Young Mr. Lincoln," for instance. I imagined Spielberg's Lincoln would not be as ridiculous as the one who hunted vampires earlier this year, but perhaps no less larger-than-life or well-suited for storybooks.

It's so good to be wrong. "Lincoln" not only presents a very human, down-to-earth Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis, but limits the scope of the story to focus on one particularly contentious event: the fight over the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which would prohibit slavery, in 1865. There are subplots involving Lincoln's relationships with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field), and grown son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who wishes to join the army. However, it's the legislative process which dominates the film, and the efforts of Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn), and his operatives lead by William Bilbo (James Spader), to round up the necessary votes to ensure the Amendment's passage.

The politics are complicated, the cast of characters is considerable, and the discourse is weighty and intelligent. It's to writer Tony Kushner's credit that the film is as tense and engaging as it is. Even without Daniel Day-Lewis, the film boasts an impressive cast of invaluable character actors. Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones appear as Lincoln's Republican allies, Lee Pace, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Walton Goggins as Democratic representatives, Jackie Earle Haley as the Vice President of the Confederacy, and Jared Harris has a few small, but important scenes as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln is a major force in the narrative, but he's far from the only one, and the time and care is taken to show how multiple interests had to be balanced, and that hard compromises had to be made.

Spielberg does a fair bit of gilding of Lincoln's image, with a few postcard worthy hero shots and plenty of poetic monologues, and yet Honest Abe never seemed more human. Here he's graying significantly, spiritually exhausted from years of Civil War and his difficult relationship with his wife. There's a sense that Lincoln is already becoming a legend in his own time, but the president feels the weight of history in a different way, viewing the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment as a personal responsibility, but one he can only bend the rules so far to achieve. Daniel Day Lewis gives him the necessary gravity and authority, but also makes Lincoln a terribly likeable figure, prone to telling funny anecdotes and even an off-color joke or two. He allows younger, twelve-year-old son Tad (Gulliver McGrath) the run of the White House, occasionally joining in the fun. He converses with everyone, high or low, statesman or servant, with equal respect. Without question, it's one of the best performances of Day-Lewis's career.

Among the supporting roles, there are three I want to highlight. First there's Sally Field, who is a more steely, more intelligent Mary Todd Lincoln than any version I've seen before, making her mental and emotional troubles are all the more heartbreaking. Tommy Lee Jones is a delight as an irascible abolitionist firebrand, who is never short on insults. He and James Spader, as the unscrupulous Republican operative in charge of buying votes through backroom deals, bring a lot of humor and lightheartedness to the legislation scenes, ensuring that the democratic process is never dull.

With Spielberg comes the usual crew - Janusz Kamiński as cinematographer, Michael Kahn on editing, Rick Baker on production design, and John Williams providing the score. As we might expect, "Lincoln" is a film of rare beauty, but also a far harsher, more realistic film than "War Horse." The major events take place in the depths of winter, and Lincoln is often seen wrapped in blankets or tending to his fireplace. Civil War battlegrounds are rendered in all their bloody historical accuracy, and as Lincoln tours the carnage, we remember that Spielberg directed "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List."

Should "Lincoln" be counted among Spielberg's best? I'm inclined to say yes. I'm not sure the African American characters were all handled quite as well as they could have been, the ending goes a bit long, and I could have done with a bit less of the gilding. But all in all, "Lincoln" is entertaining enough for general audiences, smart enough for the historians, and patriotic enough for the true believers that it should satisfy just about everyone. It may not be the definitive film on the life of Abraham Lincoln, but it certainly lives up to the name.
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