One of the turning points in "Lincoln" comes in a speech by Thaddeus Stevens on the floor of the House of Representatives. Stevens is asked if he believes in equality for blacks in all things, or merely under the law. He wants to insist that all races are equal. But most Americans don't believe that, and would oppose the abolition of slavery if it meant blacks would be treated as truly equal to whites. So he restrains himself. He says he believes merely in equality under the law. It may not be what he wants to say, but it advances the cause of abolition.
Director Steven Spielberg also faces a test in "Lincoln." He loves uplift and spectacle, and he's a master at delivering them. This is all well and good for, say, an Indiana Jones flick. But for "Lincoln," a historical drama which aspires to seriousness, it's the path to cliche and banality. "Amistad," his dull paean to the quest for freedom, is a perfect example of the possible pitfalls.
Thankfully, Spielberg is largely able to keep his showmanship in check here. Focusing on the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, "Lincoln" gives us the political meat-and-potatoes: the backroom deals, legal vagaries, and compromises in which Lincoln had to engage for the sake of the bill. The film also dabbles in the mental instability of the Lincoln family through Lincoln's son's insistence on joining the army. Spielberg realizes that it's not the why of the Thirteenth Amendment that matters--we all know that. It's the how that is his value-added.
Of course, Spielberg can't always help himself from indulging in a little flag-waving nonsense. The opening scene, in which Lincoln is bathed in an angelic glow as Union troops recite the Gettysburg address to him, is sheer ridiculousness. There are some painfully cloying lines, as when the Speaker of the House declares "This is history" before casting his vote. Finally, the ending of the movie lapses into generic biopic territory: we see the settlement at Appomattox and Lincoln on his deathbed. It's a reenactment of history rather than an investigation, one any high schooler could give us.
Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer on "Lincoln," said that because Abe was such an iconic figure, he had to be shot carefully: "You can't really show the man taking a dump, you know?" This is exactly the wrong attitude to take towards a historical figure. Lincoln shat, and it stank, just like it did for everybody else. Part of the man's greatness was that he would admit this himself. "Lincoln" mostly gets that key point right.
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