In a fashion uncharacteristic of his
famously dazzling aesthetic, Steven Spielberg has produced one of the
finest films of his career in Lincoln; a densely worded but
deftly handled political drama that illuminates the man behind the
myth as he fought to enact the 13th amendment.
In the waning days the American Civil
War, the two-term president (Daniel Day-Lewis) stares down the horns
of a dilemma as put to him by his Secretary of State William Seward
(David Strathairn): Either he can entertain negotiations from
Confederate delegates to bring about an end to the conflict now in
its fourth year, or he can push for the abolition of slavery,
dangling it as a carrot before the divided House of Representatives
as a quicker alternative to peace. Opting for the latter, “Honest”
Abe is forced into some decidedly manipulative politicking. As
behind-the-scenes history plays out, we see how freedom for the
slaves was not so much won on the floors of Congress as it was
craftily massaged into being from the smoky drawing rooms of
Washington.
Enlisted to help persuade malleable Democrats into voting for the Republican president's controversial amendment are three political specialists (played by John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, and James Spader in a delicious comic relief role) who set to work right away at tipping the tide. Also on Lincoln's side is Republican Radical Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), although to best serve the cause at hand of “equality before the law”, he must compromise and denounce his true opinion of total “racial equality” – an enlightened notion to us in retrospect, but too ahead of its time to have done any good for this all-important first step in the right direction.
While Lincoln's political embattlement
takes priority in his life, so too does he face opposing fronts of
the war at home between his wife Mary Todd (Sally Field) and his
son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who disagree on the matter of
Robert's enlistment to fight for the Union.
Lincoln is a compelling but
atypical entry in Spielberg's crowded resume
in that Spielberg himself is not the star. In fact, aside from the
familiar names of his usual crew, there's nothing distinctly
Spielbergian about it, and in this case, it's much to the film's
benefit. The restraint on his part provides an immaculately set but
low key stage on which the performances are truly able to shine.
Likely Oscar contenders Day-Lewis, Jones, and Field are excellent, of
course, but to me, none of them are particularly more impressive than
the multitude of supporting players who lend this historical drama
such accessible voice. The ensemble is a rich who's-who of character
actors from which it's hard to select a stand-out, although I was
rather taken with Strathairn's natural and nuanced take on Lincoln's
loyal but harried Secretary of State before the character became less
prominent in the movie's last half.
Top billing should really go to
playwright Tony Kushner, who scripts each scene with eloquent,
theatrical dialogue, but Spielberg prevents the material from ever
feeling stagey. As for the usual suspects of Spielberg's
craftspeople, they all contribute top knotch yet toned down work.
Janusz Kaminski's artfully composed frames find exquisite light in a
desaturated palette (compared to War Horse's eye-popping
colours, this film is practically black and white!). The makeup and
costume designs work beautifully in tandem to make each character
visually distinct, and Rick Carter's sets are positively swimming in
detail. The most noticeably dialed back element has to be John
Williams' effective though mostly quiet music, used more sparingly
here than any film he's scored, far as I know.
It's not quite a perfect movie. As
thrilling as Spielberg is able to make Kushner's verbose words, it
does take a while for things to get interesting. Certainly not for
the inattentive. And while the proceeding two-and-a-half hours are
terrific, the whole thing does wrap up on a somewhat odd note,
suffering a bit from the “multiple-ending-itis” that afflicted
The Return of the King. Still, the achievement here
inarguable.
***1/2 out of ****
