Daniel Day-Lewis without question deserves a Best Actor nomination for his role as Lincoln. Whoever Lincoln was,  Daniel Day-Lewis’s depiction of him is so impressive that Dan Day-Lewis is Lincoln. Lincoln’s great superiority as statesman, strategist and leader is powerfully portrayed on screen. Through Daniel Day Lewis, we see a penetrating, intimate portrait of this man; his gestures, the way he drapes his long fingers over his knee, his great intellect and intelligence, his thoughtfulness, love, determination, anguish, tenderness, restraint and devotion to his duty to create a better world.

We meet Lincoln well into his second term and about to try and accomplish the two feats that have driven him night and day. One: to abolish slavery forever, and two: to end the Civil War in America.  Lincoln is also a lawyer and he knows very clearly that the abolition of slavery must be permanently enshrined in the American Constitution as the 13th Amendment to truly endure. Many, including members of Lincoln’s own cabinet, are not willing to accept the equality of blacks (women were even further away from equality) and fear the reprisal of ensuring their freedom. Lincoln’s remarkable ability to navigate the political hurdles, his astute management of his personal relationships and his amazing ability to manoeuver the obstacles to accomplish his goals makes a great narrative. This is the story we came to see.

His portrayal is so riveting and believable, so astonishingly real that despite the slow pacing of Spielberg’s movie, it is the face time with Lincoln that keeps us in our seats. Despite Lincoln’s bright light, Spielberg has created a dark movie reflective of the scourge of a drawn out and merciless Civil War.  John William’s musical score is rather uninspiring. The costumes are superb as is the makeup artistry and the settings,  I am surprised though to see so much gushing over the movie resulting in a cumulative 7 Golden Globe nominations above all movie choices in a year of notable filmmaking. There are parts of the movie that should not have been included as they actually detract from the story, drag it out and seem rather implausible.

Historical Inaccuracy in the film ‘Lincoln’ has upset Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Connecticut who says it ”inaccurately portrays members of the Connecticut delegation voting against the Thirteenth Amendment.  He asked to have the actual vote researched and this revealed that all four Connecticut congressmen backed the amendment in the January 1865 vote.He wants Spielberg to add a caption or explain the error in the DVD release.”

Sally Field’s performance as Mary Todd Lincoln is remarkable and difficult. Field’s portrays a woman who is visibly unattractive and who even in this day and age is hard to empathize with. She is visibly shackled by the circumstances of her time. We are reminded that at that time women were no better than chattels and beneath even the black male, who’s equality and freedom was under discussion. Consequently, women had absolutely no rights and even as the wife of the President of the United States of America, who as Lincoln himself said “was cloaked in great powers”, his wife was completely dependent upon his love, loyalty, support and consideration.