"Lincoln"

By Matt Duncan

Coastal View News

Abraham Lincoln had his moments. One can just imagine being there when Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg address, for instance, or when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Inspiring stuff. Too bad we don’t have videos or anything.

What we do have is Steven Spielberg. In “Lincoln”, Spielberg strings together as many inspiring moments as possible. “Lincoln” is a highlight reel. It’s Honest Abe’s Greatest Hits. Except, like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, Lincoln had so many greatest hits that you cannot put them all in just one collection. You could imagine “Lincoln: The Early Years”, in which Lincoln grows up, becomes a lawyer, debates Frederick Douglas, etc. Then there might be “Lincoln: Rise to the Presidency” or “Lincoln: Preserving the Union”.

Spielberg went with the greatest hits movie about Lincoln’s push to get the 13^th Amendment (which abolishes slavery) ratified. Here is the situation. The Civil War is almost over. The North is going to win. The South knows it, but is having a hard time admitting it. Lincoln really wants the war to be over, and apparently, so does everyone else. Thus, a lot of people think that the best thing for Lincoln to do is to focus on ending the war, and to save the slavery issue for when the dust settles.

Lincoln disagrees. He thinks that the 13^th Amendment has to be passed before the Civil War is over. Lincoln figures that if the South rejoins the union with slavery intact, people will forget about the amendment—because the newly recognized southern lawmakers will vehemently oppose the amendment and/or because other politicians will not want to rock the boat, so to speak. So Lincoln presses on.

The problem is that the folks from the South are less likely to join back up with the North if they know that slavery is going to be banned. It is kind of like one side refusing to put something on the negotiating table while the other side refuses to move forward without that thing on the table. It is gridlock—a political tightrope that few (very few, apparently) can walk.

“Lincoln” is scene after scene after scene of stirring speeches, dramatic poses, and memorable one-liners. It really is a greatest hits album. It is one where Lincoln gets a lot of his famous buddies together—e.g., Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones), Ulysses S. Grant (Jared Harris), Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field), and Robert Lincoln (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)—but none them is as good as Lincoln himself (Daniel Day-Lewis). That is to say, “Lincoln” is chock full of important characters and famous actors delivering heroic and inspiring lines, but to be honest, everyone just wants to see Lincoln/Daniel Day-Lewis do his thing.

Daniel Day-Lewis is great, of course. It is hard to think of another living actor who is so intensely and so justly revered. His performance as Lincoln is distinctive, iconic, interesting and entertaining. It is larger-than-life, but also remarkably real. It is a truly special performance.

But is this movie special? I think not. “Lincoln” is so absolutely jam-packed with inspirational speeches and one-liners that, oddly enough, some of the drama and intrigue evaporates. It is just too much for one sitting.

Look, I like watching highlight reels and slam-dunk contests as much as the next person. I think it is really cool and impressive when LeBron James spins eight times, puts the ball behind his back, between his legs, in one ear and out the other—all in mid-air—and then dunks it like he does this every day. But there is also a reason why I would rather watch an actual contest, even if (or maybe because) there is an honest-to-goodness chance that my team might lose. It’s just more interesting.

So what I want to say is that “Lincoln” is impressive. It’s just not that interesting.