Lincoln

Although Steven Spielberg is a remarkably successful director who has made some good movies, he's kept from the ranks of the great directors by his tendencies towards over-the-top sentimentality and too-on-the-nose didacticism. Spielberg's "Lincoln" starts with a scene of African American Union soldiers and White Confederate soldiers in fierce hand to hand combat with bayonets and rifle butts, in the darkness and the mud. This is followed by a scene where one of the Union soldiers from that battle describes the reason for the particular savagery of that fight to President Lincoln. This is wonderful stuff until the soldier is interrupted by a second African American soldier who has apparently been sent straight from the Department of Historical Explication. He points out that while the slaves of the rebellious states have been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans do not have the full rights of citizens. Then two White Union soldiers wander up to tell the president that they were so moved by his Gettysburg Address that they enlisted. Then they recite some of the address. Wow, both of Spielberg's worst habits in one scene.

Finally this scene is over and the movie can get going. Turns out "Lincoln" is a fascinating film about Abraham Lincoln's struggle to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, passed before the end of the Civil War. As all the critics have mentioned, Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing as Lincoln and the film is full of good acting. Tony Kushner's script makes the political and diplomatic intrigue suspenseful and very interesting. Turns out that even back in 1865 the House of Representatives was a cesspool of obstructionism. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même choise.

"Lincoln" is a very good film and I recommend it.