Lincoln

I finally went to see Lincoln on Sunday.  My friend Su came over and drove me to the theater.  As usual the Cinemark experience was crummy.  When we walked into the theater there was a line of people waiting for tickets that went from the booth to the lobby and then turned the corner and went even further. I do not stand in line well but there is an option.  There is a ticket machine in the lobby that takes credit cards so I had my tickets quickly and we were in line for the pop corn.  2 small pop corns and two bottles of water were $19.  (Someday I am going to get over my obsession with movie pop corn)

We were there in plenty of time and so I got to see the previews.  There are not many movies coming up that appealed to me. Perhaps I am getting old.

There are enough reviews of Lincoln out there that you can Google so I will just say that we liked it - a lot. (Here is the best one I have read. And here is another one. Lincoln as Grand Opera.) I now have something to root for when I watch the Oscars.

Some impressions:
I was tearing up in the first two minutes of the movie.  Spielberg opened with a scene of Lincoln having a conversation with two black soldiers in the middle of the conversation two white soldiers come up and interrupt the conversation, taking it over. They end up by starting to recite the Gettysburg Address about half way through it they falter but are saved by being called to come somewhere. As they leave one of the black soldiers finishes the Address.  It was one of those "gulp" moments for me.

Lincoln liked to tell jokes, he walked like a farmer, he had a high pitched voice, he spent a lot of time agonizing over the war, the place of blacks in society when the war would be over. He did not always share his feelings and true thoughts but they were deep and they took their toll. He was a politician and he knew how to use politics to achieve his goals.  He thought through every possibility and then went with a well reasoned approach.  He also was a hard working president.  Even working late through the night when necessary.

Some thoughts on some of the actors -
Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln.
   Day-Lewis has won two Academy Awards.  This portrayal should bring him another one.  I have always admired Abraham Lincoln and enjoyed reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's  Team of Rivals which I read when it first came out. But I only knew him through reading about him. With this portrayal I felt like I was actually watching him.  It was the most real movie experience I have had in a long time.

Sally Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln
   Gidget, the Flying Nun, Norma Rae, the matriarch on Brothers and Sisters, Sally Field is an actor I have enjoyed in many roles. The role of Mary Todd Lincoln in this film is not a large role but it is a crucial one and Ms Field does a superb job.  Her portrayal shows us a mercurial woman who was fearful of losing another of her sons and seemed unsure of her place in her husband's affections. I loved her portrayal. She would get my vote for an Academy Award also,

Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican Congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens
     Here is another actor who I think deserves a nod from the Academy.  Tommy Lee Jones did a superlative job portraying his character.  I forgot he was Tommy Lee Jones and I enjoyed getting to know Mr. Stevens through him. I especially enjoyed his evisceration of a Democratic opponent trying to get him to take a stance which might have effectively defeated the Amendment outlawing slavery. I think that perhaps I almost went WHOOP when he had finished the speech.

James Spader as Republican Party operative William N. Bilbo
     How about that James Spader?  Here he plays one of those men who operate on the finges of power, getting things done. Spader was a favorite of mine in many roles especially that of Alan Shore on The Practice and Boston Legal.  He was excellent in this role and made me believe that he was the character and not just another actor taking a part.

I think that is what - in the end - appealed to me about the film,  I did not feel it was a film. I thought I was watching history as it happened.  I felt a part of this piece of history and because it was realistically told without sensationalism. The events were, in and of themselves, dramatic enough that you did not have to have it artificially padded to make it appealing  It is appealing enough on its own and I urge you to see it. You won't be sorry.