EDelahanty
10-Year Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,577
Following a copious Thanksgiving dinner, the Delahanty family hoisted themselves out of their seats and trucked over to the local multiplex to see the new Lincoln movie.
In an uncrowded theater we saw amazing performances by Sally Fields, Tommy Lee Jones, and others. If scene-stealing were an actual crime, James Spader could be indicted. Bruce McGill as Secretary of War Stanton also gave one of the many remarkable performances by minor characters. Above all, two time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis gave a thoroughly convincing portrayal of Lincoln as a great man forced to bear immense burdens with compassion and determination.
The central drama of the movie is the struggle to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the House of Representatives during the last months of the Civil War. If like many of us you are unaware of the relationship between the Emancipation Proclamation and the amendment, and the necessity of the latter, this movie will enlighten you. The thickly textured movie depicts other conflicts as well: within Lincoln's family and cabinet, as well as within Lincoln himself. The horrific violence of the Civil War itself is presented only briefly at the beginning of the film, but with powerful effect.
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Spoiler alert: Steven Spielberg and screenplay writer Tony Kushner were said to have strived for historical accuracy. However, unlike the more factual "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter", there was not a single mention of Lincoln's lifelong quest to destroy vampires, and neither he nor his wife Mary were shown to have heroically killed the vampire leaders before escaping from an exploding train. This is probably why the attendance was sparse.
In an uncrowded theater we saw amazing performances by Sally Fields, Tommy Lee Jones, and others. If scene-stealing were an actual crime, James Spader could be indicted. Bruce McGill as Secretary of War Stanton also gave one of the many remarkable performances by minor characters. Above all, two time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis gave a thoroughly convincing portrayal of Lincoln as a great man forced to bear immense burdens with compassion and determination.
The central drama of the movie is the struggle to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the House of Representatives during the last months of the Civil War. If like many of us you are unaware of the relationship between the Emancipation Proclamation and the amendment, and the necessity of the latter, this movie will enlighten you. The thickly textured movie depicts other conflicts as well: within Lincoln's family and cabinet, as well as within Lincoln himself. The horrific violence of the Civil War itself is presented only briefly at the beginning of the film, but with powerful effect.
****************************************************
Spoiler alert: Steven Spielberg and screenplay writer Tony Kushner were said to have strived for historical accuracy. However, unlike the more factual "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter", there was not a single mention of Lincoln's lifelong quest to destroy vampires, and neither he nor his wife Mary were shown to have heroically killed the vampire leaders before escaping from an exploding train. This is probably why the attendance was sparse.