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- Review count1
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- First reviewNovember 10, 2012
- Last reviewNovember 10, 2012
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating5
RobDC's Reviews
Overall rating
5
/
5
Lincoln's Legacy
PostedNovember 10, 2012
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
4
/
5
Art Direction
4
/
5
Acting
5
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
In a performance for the ages, Daniel Day-Lewis portrays a warm, war-weary, folksy, and intensely intelligent Abraham Lincoln fighting for U.S. House approval of the 13th Amendment during the final months before his assassination. Above all, Spielberg's "Lincoln" illuminates the political brilliance of Lincoln, an Illinois lawyer who was not above twisting arms and granting patronage in return for votes.
The supporting cast is tremendous (particularly Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field) and the cinematography is stunning, particularly in scenes outside of the White House and the House chamber. Tony Kushner's script (based partly on Doris Kearns Goodwin's brilliant book, "Team of RIvals") is generally excellent, although I found a few scenes to be awkward because they were not realistic. For example, is it believable that two Union foot soldiers would have memorized the Gettysburg Address and recited it to the President in an impromptu battlefield setting a year after he delivered the speech?
The film's ending is problematic -- in particular, the lack of context on Gen. Robert E. Lee and the indirect portrayal of the president's assassination. But I greatly appreciated the opportunity to hear Day-Lewis deliver part of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, one of the great speeches ever given by an American president.:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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