Review: Lincoln (2012)

★★★☆☆

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones

❝ DO YOU THINK WE CHOOSE TO BE BORN? OR ARE WE FITTED INTO THE TIMES WE'RE BORN INTO? ❞

Synopsis: In the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) begins to rally up support and votes for his 13th amendment, which abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude (except as a punishment for a crime). Whilst he fights to procure his much needed votes, his personal life begins to suffer and Lincoln must balance his duties as the President and his duties as a father and a husband.

Lincoln might as well have been a documentary with reconstructed scenes featuring Daniel Day-Lewis. That was the problem with this very long history lesson. Whilst it did have charm and appeal in certain scenes, overall the film was brought down by the weight of all of the discussions that Spielberg felt needed to be shown. It dragged longer than it needed to and I'm not entirely sure if certain scenes had any effect on the narrative whatsoever. Although it felt long and laboured, the second half of the film had a much better pace than the first, and is where everyone really shone. Sally Fields in particular matched Daniel Day-Lewis' incredible abilities as an actor and Joseph Gordon-Levitt held his own in scenes with emotions running high. The thing this film excelled most at was the beautiful cinematography and editing; though admittedly the last 10 minutes or so of the film were subpar in comparison. In fact, the ending was possibly the reason I had to give this three stars rather than four. There was a scene right before the final one that would have given the film an iconic 'famous last shot' status in film history but Spielberg chose to tell instead of show throughout the whole film, and gave the ending the same treatment which was unfortunate. This is worth watching if you want to educate yourself on Lincoln's greatest achievement as President with some top notch performances. If you have no interest in America's history, you won't benefit from seeing this and will probably be (as many have stated) bored to tears.