Lincoln
"Lincoln" the film has now arrived in a blaze of cannon
fire and Lincoln, the rational and very human being, breathes life in
Spielberg's new epic. Here we have speaking before us and actually smiling, the
ultra-iconic Abraham Lincoln (both the president and the man) and he is quite
sensitive with an novel sense of humor portrayed by the chameleon Daniel
Day-Lewis.
This
is no surface performance but a near tour de force. We really see Lincoln walk
( he has a nonchalant, drifting gait) stammer and smile in a very real and
quite human way. Although Lincoln is often taciturn and melancholic,he is no
Gloomy Gus. He has a dry sense of fun and is fond of telling long stories full
of pauses to the chagrin of others. As gentle and reserved as he is, Lincoln is
never a passive penny. He booms with resolve and gets what he wants.
When
the camera opens we see The Union and
The Confederacy deep in the mud, white soldiers against black soldiers,
punching, clawing and impaling with grunting awe in hyper-drive reminiscent of "Saving Private
Ryan". The
blue and gray are so immersed that they are Greek wrestlers in Bas-relief.
Then
we see Lincoln who is relating a rather scary dream to his confidante and wife
Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field). Mary tries to put her brooding husband at ease,
saying that his fear is obviously his apprehension in trying to end slavery,
known as The 13th Amendment. Mary's advice: there is a extremely bloody war.
The amendment can and should wait till after the bloodshed has ceased.
After
all, Mary is clairvoyant.
Lincoln
is pitted in the lion's den of his cabinet, although the film mostly focuses on
Lincoln's relationship with the irascible but passionate Abolitionist, Thaddeus
Stevens, played with spirit and verve by Tommy Lee Jones. Stevens fears that
Lincoln will go diplomatic and soft. His message: the democrats will cave. Push
the amendment through.
The
first half of the film has our 16th President of The United States, going from
place to place trying to reason with his cabinet and hesitant democrats who
would rather end a war than terminate slavery. Violence, abuse and the
nation-wide debasement of an entire race, albeit wrong, is the way things are
in 1860 and no one likes change, especially in the midst of loss.
Lincoln
is caught in an existential bind. The more he tries to placate, the more
democrats rise against him. To prove his point, Lincoln quotes Euclid, who was
the emperor of equality, so to speak. As it is in nature, he suggests, so it is
with men: all sides are equal. Lincoln begins to win both ally and adversary to
his cause, due in no small part to some one of a kind bullying by Thaddeus
Stevens. Lincoln employs guile and good nature to illustrate his cause, but
once he is rebuffed, he is a dynamo of coal and brimstone. The table shakes under
his slap. And it is then we see an echo of Daniel Day-Lewis' monstrous
bloodletters, consumed by ambition. A duality of nature, both fire and kind
function existed in this man.
The
most interesting aspects of the film is Lincoln's nonchalant humor and Mary Todd Lincoln's fearful dominance,
despite her small stature. Cloaked under her huge billowing skirt, she trembles
over her husband as a wild mushroom, saturated with toxicity and invective.
As
Mary says at one outing in paraphrase: Do as I say. Mary is the one person that
Lincoln is afraid of.
The
pacing is brisk throughout, making this film a solid and active history.
Thaddeus Stevens' rolling volcanic outbursts offer a light irreverence to
Lincoln's saturnine smiles, who is not beyond poking at himself.
"You
know Mary, we should be happier. We're miserable." He admits with a sad
smirk.
"Lincoln"
finally showcases the man, the icon-as- president and the actor Daniel
Day-Lewis as a Humanist instrument. As he explosively fires at his wife and
then his cabinet, he shuffles off in an odd hopping tread: a man in an ordinary
black blanket, a pilgrim and a president, who has extinguished himself in
battle to become part of our collective
transformation.
Write
Ian at redtv_2005@yahoo.com
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