Movie: "Lincoln"

Bottom line, one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.  I honestly didn't think I would be as impressed or as captivated by this film.  Yes, it's Spielberg, but he often seems long-winded to me.  This movie is nothing but dialogue (an opening scene of hand-to-hand combat is, mercifully, short) but that dialogue is so intelligent and engaging that you don't want to miss a word.  We know the outcome but there is still a sense of suspense:  will President Lincoln get the votes he needs in the House of Representatives to get the 13th Amendment passed?  Will he be able to do this before the war ends, before the South surrenders? 

The cast of characters is huge, and they are almost all men.  Lincoln's wife is the only substantial female role and as important as she is, even Mary Todd could have been left out.  This is all about Lincoln's struggle to "do the right thing" by outlawing slavery via a constitutional amendment.  He knows he doesn't have enough votes and he is almost willing to use slightly underhanded means to get the additional votes from his political adversaries.  

Daniel Day-Lewis must have gone to bed one night as himself and woke the next morning as Lincoln.  That's how perfect he is in this role: he simply is Lincoln.  The reedy voice, the scraggly hair and beard, his obvious lack of formal education heard in his grammatical errors, his stoop, his sad eyes.  He is Lincoln. 

The details alone make it worth seeing "Lincoln."  The haze of smoke from many cigar-smoking legislators, the low light from candles, the scraggly beard of Lincoln, the clothes, the furnishings, there is no detail missed.  My only negative, and it's one that I often have with Spielberg movies, is that the music is sometimes too obvious, too emotive.  It is a small quibble and 95% of the viewers won't be bothered by it.  (Movie music is often like a small rock in my shoe, and I readily admit it is a personal pet peeve.)  And I had a small issue with Hal Holbrook's hair.  Too much of something isn't necessarily a good thing.  But it's a minor quibble.

Go see this movie. The marvelous acting, the set details, the incredible script, everything is excellent.  But there is also a relevance today in what those statesmen were discussing almost 150 years ago.  It was put most succinctly by Diane, a good friend:  "I will buy this movie to show to our grandkids when they are older."  It's that kind of movie, one for posterity.