Lincoln: Slice of America

Lincoln

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones

Rated: 9/10

Is this Abe Lincoln, or is this Abe Lincoln? Henceforth, this is the only Abe Lincoln I know. They say he is Daniel Day-Lewis but I have my doubts, serious doubts. For altering public perception to this extent is, I guess, why this Lincoln who goes by the name of Lewis should get an Oscar for a performance as grand as his director Steven Spielberg’s designs on cinema.

Lincoln is a historical drama on America’s most interesting period. And Lincoln was the President at this time, replete with a sly slouch but an upright thinking.

Lewis, with all his wrinkles, his lawyer seasoning of life, his immense knowledge of history and his most arresting yet irritating penchant to tell stories to his hapless Cabinet colleagues as thousands of sons were being slaughtered in a prolonged civil war, is the centrepiece of this film. The canvas takes into account the last years of his reign and the passing of the controversial 13th Amendment which made slavery history at a time when the Whites — and the Blacks — could not envisage of such a law even in a very distant future.

You can call Lincoln, I mean Lewis, Spielberg’s immaculate conception so brilliant it the handling of this difficult film heavy on dialogues and constant talk. For lesser beings, this would be a sureshot recipe for disaster, a culling of pace in an age when everything needs to move and move fast. But it’s Spielberg here, unfolding the most gripping drama without moving much in the entire film.

Most of the time, you are in a dark and dingy White House where the light from the windows enhances the flickering lanterns bringing you the 19th century aura fresh on a plate of intense politics. Lincoln’s otherwise casual attitude hides his oeuvre for manipulation and his sharp eye for horsetrading. His incorruptible belief that he would abolish slavery is almost an impossibility that has been sported brilliantly by Lewis in a role that would daunt all masters of histrionics. The film gets it other props from the absolutely stunning art direction and the eye for detail that makes you think you are in a time warp. It is thinking, talking, true to time cinema which looks so well adorned in research that you forget it is based in part on Lincoln’s biography written by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

And, it is so centred on Lewis that you might just commit the cardinal mistake of mentioning Tommy Lee Jones’ sterling act as a Congressman in the passing. Also, not to be missed is the neurotic wife of Lincoln played by Sally Field. And, of course the wry humour in dialogues which enhances the personae of both Jones and Lewis. The real action here is dialogues. You can call it a thriller based entirely on two hours of undiluted talktime.

Source: Published in The Sunday Pioneer, 10 February, 2013