Lincoln

Earlier this year, after watching Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, I followed it with Steven Spielberg’s latest epic, Lincoln.  Lincoln details the political atmosphere during the American Civil War and the final triumph of the titular President, Abraham Lincoln. Having gone from such flippant and violent humour surrounding the subject of racial fairness, to the serious and realistic portrayal of the same topic was quite the jarring sensation. It was as if I had marathoned The Life of Brian, Harold and Kumar Get The Munchies and Inglorious Basterds with The Passion of the Christ, Requiem For A Dream and The Pianist.  Like visiting the dentist after a trip to Cadbury World.

Spielberg’s latest recounts the few months after Lincoln’s second term re-election; the Civil War continues to rage, slavery is still permitted by the Constitution and the American people seems to be on the brink of collapse. Lincoln swears that he will put a stop to the bloodshed by introducing the Thirteenth Amendment; which will both formally abolish slavery and end the Civil War. However, he must pass the Amendment by a vote in the American House of Representatives, which could be an impossible task.

So let me pitch this film to you how I saw it immediately after the film finished. “This film is centred entirely on the last days of the American Civil War, but the most life-or-death, nail-biting scenes occur in a room full of stuffy-shirted white men, voting.” A tad unconventional, right? That’s mainly due to the action taking place solely within the drama rather than the ongoing warfare.

A large amount of my enjoyment is due to Daniel Day-Lewis who again gives an Oscar-deserving performance as Abraham Lincoln. DDL is known to use his method-acting style to great effect and this is another fantastic example. Personally, I am not too familiar with most of DDL’s work, apart from There Will Be Blood, where he again won the Academy Award for Best Actor. This is because he is quite selective about the roles he undertakes as he dedicates such devotion and effort into each performance. This is quite obviously evident in Lincoln. He fully embodies Lincoln and gives an incredible performance. The self-confidence he exudes with a tenacious but quiet persona is mesmerising, especially during a scene where he calms and entertains a group of staff with an anecdote during a tense period of silence.

Along with DDL, Tommy Lee Jones gives an understated but impressive Oscar-nominated portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens, one of the Thirteenth Amendment’s biggest supporters. He exhibits a calm and yet powerful attitude that often provides TLJ with opportunities to chew the scenery, entertain the audience and prove that he has still got it.

Even though these central performances were stellar and worthy of their Academy Award nominations, I felt like the film lacked a certain Spielberg charm. Perhaps the film was a little drama-heavy for me, and I would have preferred to see more of the Civil War that was raging whilst the politicians argued away from the carnage. Either way, I left the cinema screen feeling like I was impressed by the performances but unfortunately, not the overall experience. But compared to Django Unchained, this was the preferred alternative of the subject of racial equality. Whilst Django handled it quite immaturely, Spielberg provided the subtle and intellectual comparison to Tarantino and I believed it was the superior film.

Rating: 7/10