"Lincoln" Movie Review

Spielberg Lincoln Movie Review

It is difficult to review any Lincoln movie.   By general consensus of those who knew him in his time, Lincoln was 'one of a kind'.  This 'one of a kind' attribute is perhaps why there are more books written about Lincoln than any other person outside of Jesus.  Perhaps this also explains why there are so few movies made about Lincoln.  Just how does any actor go about duplicating a personality that was 'one of a kind"?  The  movie failed to recreate that character and physical duplication simply because the task is too great.  Historical accuracy was decent enough, the conversations were plausible, although of course mostly fiction, but there is simply no way to create the atmosphere, tension, and tumultuous nature of the time.  It is simply a case of 'you had to be there' to fully appreciate the magnitude of this conflict over slavery.  Here is one case where reading about the era is much more likely to impose a realistic and emotional appreciation than a any movie. 

Movies have certainly perfected the ability to create images, tension, horror, humor, suspense, action scenes, mysteries, etc. But to recreate Lincoln and the times in which he lived is just a task beyond all modern technology. Below are some selected memories of Lincoln written by those who knew him. This is simply not the Lincoln portrayed in the movie, albeit the actor gave it his best shot. 

Joshua Speed (probably his closest friend): "Mr. Lincoln was a social man, though he did not seek company; it sought him. After he made his home with me, on every winter's night at my store, by big wood fire, no matter how inclement the weather, eight or ten choice spirits assembled, without distinction of party. It was sort of a social club without organization.  They cam there because they were sure to find LIncoln.  His habit was to engage in conversation upon any and all subjects except politics.... "

Issac Arnold (political ally): "His conversation was original, suggestive, instructive, and playful; and by its genial humor fascinating and attractive beyond comparison. Mirthfulness and sadness were strongly combined in him. His mirth was exuberant, it sparkled in jest, story, and anecdote; and the next moment those peculiarly sad, pathetic, melancholy eyes, showed a man 'familiar with sorrow, and acquainted with grief.  I have listened for hours at his table, and elsewhere, when he has been surrounded by statesmen, military leaders, and other distinguished men of the nation, and I but repeat the universally concurring verdict of all, in stating that as a conversationalist he had no equal.  One might meet in company with him the most most distinguished men, of various pursuits and professions, but after listening for two or three hours, on separating it, what Lincoln had said that would be remembered.  His were the ideas and illustrations that would not be forgotten.  Men often called upon him for the pleasure of listening to him.   I have heard the reply to an invitation to attend the theater, "No, I am going up to the WHite House.  I would rather hear Lincoln talk for half an hour, than attend the best theatre in the world. "

At no point in watching the movie did I feel such awe at the dialogue or the actor. How could the actor or the script be able to recreate such an experience?  The actor did not butcher the Lincoln character so much as fail to duplicate Lincoln. It is not like if someone else had portrayed LIncoln the movie would have been better. 

Henry Clay Whitney (fellow attorney): "He probably has as little taste about dress and attire as anybody that ever was born: hew simply wore clothes because it was needful and customary; whether they fitted or looked well was entirely above, or beneath, his comprehension......While outside of his mind all was anarchy and confusion, inside all was symmetry and method.  His mind was his workshop; he needed no office, no pen, ink and paper; he could perform his chief labor by self-introspection."

William Herndon (Law partner): "He exercised no government of any kind over his household.  His children did much as they pleased.  Many of their antics he approved, and he restrained them in nothing. He never reproved them or gave them a  fatherly frown. He was the most indulgent parent I have ever known. ...the boys were unrestrained in their amusement.  If they pulled down all the books from the shelves, bent the points of all the pens, overturned inkstands, scattered law-papers over the floor, or threw pencils in the spitttoons, it never disturbed the serenity of their father's good nature"

John Littlefield (law student) "Lincoln did not seem to have any pleasures common to men of the world.  He was not a great eater nor a drinker...Lincoln impressed me as a man who had arrived at a point in Christianity without going to church that others struggle to attain, but do not reach, by going.  I never in all  my life associated with a man who seemed so ready to serve another"

Secretary of State William Seward to others at a gathering. "I have always wondered how any man could ever get to be President of the United States with so few vices. The President, you know, I regret to say, neither drinks nor smokes."  "That,", answered the President, "is a doubtful compliment.  I recollect once being outside a stage in Illinois, and a man sitting by me offered me a cigar. I told him I had no vices.  He said nothing, smoked for some time, and then grunted out, "It's my experience in life that folks who have got no vices have plaguey few virtues." 

"It is not too much to say that it was rare to converse with him a while without feeling something  poignant.  Every time I have endeavored to describe this impression, words nay, the very ideas, have failed me.  And, strange to say, Mr. Lincoln was quite humorous , although one could always detect a bit of irony in his humor.  He would relate anecdotes, seeking always to bring the point out clearly.  He willingly laughed either at what was being said to him or what he said himself.  But all of a sudden he would retire within himself; then he would close his eyes, and all his features would at once bespeak a kind of sadness as indescribable as it was deep.  After a while, as though it were by an effort of his will, he would shake off this mysterious weight under which he seemed bowed; his generous and open disposition would again reappear.  In one evening I happened to count over twenty of these alternations and contrasts."

At any rate, to the extent these accounts of Lincoln by person's who knew him carry any weight, then there was no such Lincoln in the movie. And to the extent Lincoln was really 'one of a kind' then he truly 'belongs to the ages' and no movie can bring him back.