Lincoln

by Tyler Darke

      Lincoln, as our third review, represents the final of the major contenders for the Academy Award for Best Picture from 2012. In a phenomenal year of film, this would be my second choice to win Best Picture, which is saying a lot already.

      I heard about Lincoln long before it was released in theaters. The main thing that caught my attention was seeing the first preview for the movie, where its brilliance was already evident from the absolutely incredible job in costume design that was done with Daniel Day-Lewis. If you took a picture of Day-Lewis as Lincoln (with a little help of black and white effect) few people would be able to tell the difference. I had to see this movie!

      The cast of this movie could not have been better-selected. Every actor played his/her roll flawlessly. With so many recognizable faces, it would be easy for the movie to come across less like a believable group of characters and more like a red carpet event. However, the carefully selected cast in Lincoln had the exact opposite effect. Particularly commendable was the dynamic of the Lincoln family.

      I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of focus the movie gave to Abraham Lincoln's family life. Many people are familiar with various aspects of his career as a politician, but what you do not learn much about in history class is his life as a father and a husband. The film did a great job of giving the viewer an inside look at the life of Lincoln in his intimate moments with his family. The beautiful relationship between Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field (as Mary Todd Lincoln) brought their arguments and serious discussions to life. The scenes with his children also allowed us to see what a caring father he was. Even as president, he still made as much time as possible for his younger son and did everything he could to protect his older son who wanted to join the military.

      Beyond the Lincoln family, much of the film is focused around the other politicians involved in debate over the 13th Amendment. While all of these actors (playing politicians) gave impressive performances, Tommy Lee Jones' was outstanding. In my opinion, it was the best of his career. Playing Thaddeus Stevens was not an incredibly new type of role for Jones, but he played it at his best. Stevens was a tough, witty politician and Jones portrays those characteristics vividly.

      Overall, the film was an absolutely remarkable look at the life of Abraham Lincoln as an outstanding politician, a fantastic husband, and a loving father. His relentless pursuit of the passage of the 13th Amendment was shown in great detail by the perfect group of actors. If you have not done so already, you have to see Lincoln as soon as possible. I can't wait to buy it on DVD. 9.5/10