Lincoln
(USA, 149 min.)
Dir. Steven Spielberg, Writ. Tony Kushner
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn,
Tommy Lee Jones, Hal Holbrook, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, John Hawkes,
Tim Blake Nelson, Jared Harris, Gloria Reuben.
I bet Lincoln
would make an incredible stage play. Star Daniel Day-Lewis gives a magnetic
performance that could captivate an audience even better in close proximity. As
the great storyteller Abraham Lincoln, Day-Lewis recites one speech after
another. The screenplay by Tony Kusher, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning
play Angels in America, contains an
abundance of speeches. Lincoln is built
not on dialogue, but on monologue. Each character of the ensemble enjoys a
Shakespearean array of oration, which amounts to a great deal of talking, but
also competitive acting and inadvertent theatricality. The commanding lectures
of Lincoln have an inherent static
drive, so the film might have been more imposing—and effective—if staged in an
intimate setting instead of a sprawling, epic widescreen plain.
Reuniting with his Munich-scribe
Kushner, Spielberg avoids the usual “greatest hits” approach to the fall biopic
and instead captures the life of Abraham Lincoln during the months following
his second election win and leading up to the passage of the Thirteenth
Amendment, which abolished slavery in America. Countless characters stress that
Lincoln is a beloved man at this peak in his Presidency. He is a man with great
power, they all say. Lincoln’s admirers and colleagues are therefore puzzled
when he wants to use such influence to pass such controversial legislation.
More difficult, the characters say, is how Lincoln aims to pass the bill when
America is in the midst of several wars: the Civil War primarily, but also
divisive partisanship, race wars, class feuds, and more.
It might seem challenging at first for viewers to follow the
complicated politics of a slice of history with which they are unfamiliar.
Fortunately, though, Lincoln features
a steady peanut gallery of commentators (played by James Spader, John Hawkes,
and Tim Blake Nelson) who summarize each member of the cast’s roster by noting
their name, political affiliation, and place in history when they first appear.
This trio of vote-riggers serves as a placebo for the audience, as they mostly
sit in the cheap seats and observe the theatrics of the politicians as they
debate the new bill.
The political circus in Lincoln
is often quite funny. Intentional or not, the hammy charades of the supporting
players save Lincoln from being a
stiff sermon. For all the talking that goes on in the film, it’s often quite
engaging.
Lincoln, however,
might ultimately be too talky for its own good. Lincoln frequently invites the
viewer to pull up a chair and listen to a story that illustrates his ideas.
When one character throws his hands up in defeat and proclaims, “I can’t listen
to another of your stories!” some viewers might agree that the films speaks in
too many lengthy parables. It’s fortunate, then, that Spielberg has an actor as
strong as Daniel Day-Lewis to rely upon as Lincoln delivers speech upon speech.
I must tip my stovepipe hat to Daniel Day-Lewis for his immersive, yet
surprisingly low-key performance as Abraham Lincoln.
However, while Daniel Day-Lewis seems like a true to life
embodiment of the American president, his co-stars seem more like biopic send-ups
to historical caricature. Tommy Lee Jones, for example, assumes the role of Lincoln’s
fellow Republican Thaddeus Stevens, but his cartoonish and over-the-top
performance more aptly nails the part of Krusty the Klown. Likewise, Sally
Field plays Mary Todd Lincoln by way of Lady Macbeth. Field, like Day-Lewis,
genuinely attempts to capture her real-life counterpart, but the histrionics of
her performance are sure to divide audiences into two parties. The disparity in
performance style between Day-Lewis and his colleagues illustrates the
strangely disjointed feel of Spielberg’s Lincoln.
The production seems more like a team of rivals with everyone trying to
outperform one another for the best clip to show come Oscar night.
Similarly, some of Spielberg’s regular collaborators show
off too much and overwhelm Lincoln
with their artistic touches. Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski pulls breathtaking
feats with his painterly renderings of natural light, but one often finds
oneself marvelling at the specks of dust floating by the window or at the Mad Men-ish plumes of tobacco smoke that
spiral across the frame. In one scene, for example, I found myself admiring how
the light reveals the texture of a table, yet I paid no heed to the ongoing
discussion between Lincoln and his rivals on The River Queen. Likewise,
Day-Lewis portrays Lincoln as a humble, down-to-earth man, yet the gratingly
exultant score by John Williams repeatedly trumpets Lincoln into the realm of hero-worshipping, with some added
hillbilly twang for comic relief. The costumes by Joanna Johnston, however, are
state of the art, as is the attention to detail by the team of production
designers, art directors, and set decorators.
If one looks past the fireworks and bombast, however, it’s
impossible to deny that Lincoln is a
good film. Spielberg, Kushner, and Day-Lewis provide a compelling look at
history, but they also bring out the relevancy of Lincoln’s tale. Based in part
on the book Team of Rivals: The Political
Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lincoln offers considerable reverberations with today’s American
climate. The parallels to President Barack Obama are clear in the ongoing
mentions of the President’s popularity and the ensuing power such popularity.
The film also shows how, like Obama, Lincoln led significant progress for
America by negotiating a very partisan system. Most significant are perhaps the
unsaid implications of Lincoln’s endeavour, namely that the actions made by the
passage of the 13th Amendment gave way to the great leader that
America has today.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Lincoln is currently playing in wide release.
