This movie is directed by Stephen Spielberg and
stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field as the president and his wife.
This movie is a historical presentation of the thirteenth amendment and
the difficulty with getting it passed, and President Lincoln's desire to
get it passed during the lame-duck congress, after the Democrats had
been defeated in the house. He did not want to wait for the new
congress to be seated, for if the war should conclude he might lose the
people's motivation to pass the amendment; that in passing it might
quicken the end of the war.
The movie does not present the early parts of the war, in fact Lee and
Grant are already facing each other at Petersburg, and Lincoln has won
reelection, in the same election that swept many Democrats out of
congress.
The passing of the thirteenth amendment was not easy as the movie
portrays, and the movie shows the political moves, and promises Lincoln
pulled out to official abolish slavery in the United States. Political
victory would require 20 votes from across the aisle, while not losing
any votes from the Republican Party.
The witticisms of Abraham Lincoln made for an enjoyable part of the
movie, and I remember thinking during the movie, I wish I had written
that down. Also his humorous stories kept the movie light, because the
movie was heavy.
This movie was not a biography of Lincoln, nor was it a history of the
civil war. It had very little of the actual action, other than some
Africa Americans telling their story, and showing the result of battle.
The Gettysburg Address is recited at the beginning of the move, and
towards the end we see works from Lincoln's second inauguration.
The movie also does a very good job of portraying the son's of Mary and
Abraham Lincoln. Robert, his oldest who wants to be in uniform rather
than at school. He finally gets his wish, being placed on Grant's
staff. Tad, his youngest is dealing with the death of the middle
brother, Willie. He views lithographs of slaves, and is very much
interested in the freedom of the slaves.
The other actors do a very good job. You would think a movie spending
much of its time showing congress would be boring. In this case it was
not, because the story took place in congress, and the manipulations,
name calling, and in some cases restraining of one's opinions to get the
amendment passed, were fascinating. Tommy Lee Jones as Representative
Stephens from Ohio was terrific.
A very enjoyable movie.
