By Danovan Price
A film about the United States’ 16th president, “Lincoln” came out and took a different approach on the president’s work.
The film focused on the periods after the Civil War and leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s death. The film is directed by famous award-winning director Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner.
The setting of the film shows a dark, gritty America with black backdrops and minimal light, used to show the dark things that went on around Lincoln’s presidency and to give a different take on the documentary.
Playing the president is Daniel Day-Lewis who transforms elegantly into the president. The makeup done to him makes it seem like the president is on the screen. From his beard to his top hat, the president comes on screen and is played very well by Day-Lewis.
The documentary focuses on some of the major issues in Lincoln’s presidency; the abolishment of slavery and his assassination. He goes through many hurdles to passing the amendment with the House of Representatives, even back when Republicans were the Liberals, they had backlash with Lincoln. Most of the writing was based from “Team of Rivals” written by Doris Kearns, which is how Tony Kushner became writer for this movie.
It shows how the Democrats and Republicans were very different and unmanageable at times on key situations.
There are many supporting actors in the film. One of the biggest in the film is Tommy Lee Jones.
Jones plays the role of Thaddeus Stevens well. Unknown to many people Stevens was a real advocate for equal rights of all races. As Pennsylvania’s representative, Stevens is the one Lincoln depends on to help with the passing of the amendment with the House of Representatives.
Steven Spielberg does a great job portraying the struggle Lincoln has with the representatives and not too many Civil War battles.
He got away from other documentaries that went back and forth between the war and what went on in politics. It does not show Lincoln as a hero, but more as a person who wants to do the right thing.
There is a lot of dialogue that some people may not like and should expect minimal action in the movie.
Spielberg puts more effort into the actions of Lincoln and not of the war itself, which some movies have done when portraying Lincoln.
The movie is sure to be up for nomination and is a must-see for a history buff or a fan of Lincoln. It shows that Lincoln was an advocate for the abolishing of slavery and wanted it badly.
His assassination was a real tragedy for the United States, and to this day some people wonder how different America would be if he was able to live out his presidency.
