I have written a lot about Abraham Lincoln in the past as you can tell from the “related posts” noted below. Most of my posts were concerning the movie “The Conspirator” which is one of my favorite movies.  I enjoyed reading about all the historical people involved with Lincoln. Boston Corbett is the man who shot Booth. Louis Weichmann was originally a suspect but he later became one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution.  John Wilkes Booth was the first man to kill an American President. Louis Powell attempted to kill Secretary of State Seward.  Mary Surratt was in the center of the conspiracy we are told, but is that true? (I believe the evidence shows that it was true that she was guilty of that.)

Christianity Today’s review below:

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mpaa rating

PG-13 (for an intense scene of war violence, some images of carnage and brief strong language)

genre

Crime, Drama, Western

Directed By

Steven Spielberg

Cast

Daniel Day-Lewis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Walton Goggins, Tommy Lee Jones

Theatre Release

November 16, 2012 by Dreamworks Pictures

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The opening scene of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln depicts a Civil War battle scene: scrappy, muddy, bayonet-to-bayonet fighting, a brutal slog over contested terrain. The rest of the film concerns something equally scrappy, muddy and messy: politics, specifically, the hard-fought battle to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery in the United States.

Based in part on the book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Goodwin, Lincoln is less a traditional biopic of our sixteenth president than a snapshot of one specific episode in his story—his last few months of life, at the start of his second term as U.S. president and in the final days of the Civil War. As the film begins, Lincoln (Daniel Day Lewis, in what is sure to be an Oscar-nominated role) is visiting Union troops and hears a handful of soldiers recite excerpts of what had already become an iconic presidential oration: the Gettysburg Address. The president—haggard, war-weary, solemn—listens intently as a black soldier recites the speech’s final line as he marches back to join his regiment: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom …”

This preface appropriately sets up the film’s main conflict: Lincoln’s efforts to make good on that “new birth of freedom” by convincing enough congressmen in the House of Representatives to vote in favor of the Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln’s conviction on the matter is evident from the start: he believes abolishing slavery is a necessary step to move the country forward in unity. But politics being the complicated game that it is, conviction alone won’t accomplish the goal. A good leader also needs skill in forging alliances, making deals, and charismatically bargaining with the other side to give and take for the common good. In other words: political skill. And Lincoln had it in spades.

One of the fascinating strengths of Lincoln is the way that it turns the nitty-gritty, inelegant work of politics into utterly compelling, even inspiring, drama. At a time when Americans are more cynical than ever about Congress and the partisan politics of no-compromise belligerence that threaten to pilot the nation over ominous “cliffs,” a film like Lincoln is helpful. It reminds us that amazing things can emerge from democracy even in the most divided of times. The country was extremely divided in 1865, and the tone in Washington wasn’t exactly civil (back then, politicians hurled insults like “you fatuous nincompoop!” at each other during House debates). And yet, with the guidance of Lincoln and the shrewd political maneuvering of his cabinet, enough votes were secured to get the amendment passed. Spielberg’s film is a captivating document of history, yes; but it’s also a reminder that working across party lines is not weak capitulation. On the contrary, it can birth revolutionary, healing change.

As much as Lincoln is about political process, it is also (obviously) about the man himself: Honest Abe. The beauty of this film is that it maneuvers effortlessly between the legislative drama and the intimate moments where we get glimpses—thanks to Day-Lewis’ remarkable performance—into the personality and character of Lincoln and his family. Much of the “iconic Lincoln” is on display here: the tall, lanky man with a scraggly beard and top hat; the unpolished frontier boy with log cabin roots (Lincoln puts his own wood logs in the fireplaces of the Oval Office). But as portrayed by Day-Lewis, he’s also a natural born storyteller and jokester, an individualist who values quiet time alone and has strained relationships with members of his own family. He’s a dignified man who is sober-minded and soft-spoken, but forceful and impassioned when he needs to be. Above all, he’s a commanding presence; when he opens his mouth, people listen.

Screenwriter Tony Kushner wisely creates plenty of breathing room in the script for Day-Lewis to really sink his teeth into the Lincoln persona. There are great scenes of Lincoln in meetings with his cabinet, where he effortlessly rambles in a manner that is half courtroom lawyering and half grandfatherly storytime, with an eloquence of language that feels like a cross between Shakespeare and Mark Twain. He’s a president who is as likely to refer to “flub-dubs” and “Tammany Hall hucksters” as he is to quote Euclid.

It’s the quieter moments, however, that moved me the most; the moments when Lincoln isn’t politicking or posturing, but reflecting. Grieving. Wondering why he was chosen to lead the nation through its darkest hour. “Doyou think wechoose to be born?” he asks one of aides in a particularly existential moment, “or arewefitted to thetimes we’reborn into?”

Though Lincoln’s Christian faith isn’t explicitly noted in the film, it is certainly clear that there is a higher truth guiding his convictions, a sovereign God who has entrusted him with an important role in an important time. Lincoln assumes this responsibility with deep reverence and humility. He is a humble man whose grief over the depth of loss his country has suffered is written all over his face—in the aged lines of his brow, in his dark, grave eyes. Like most presidents at the end of a term in office, he is grayer and more worn down by the end. And yet his resolve isn’t shaken. It’s a testament to the immense skill of Day-Lewis that his version of Lincoln feels at once familiar and new—consistent with how we imagined Lincoln and yet embodied in a way we’ve never quite seen: Lincoln the dad, the husband, the deal-maker, the joke-teller.

Spielberg shows us with Lincoln not only that he continues to be a master of epic filmmaking but also that he is a great actor’s director. Day-Lewis anchors the film but he is just one of a number of excellent actors who make up the ensemble cast. As Mary Todd Lincoln, Sally Field perfectly inhabits the famously unstable first lady, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is entirely believable as Robert, the college-aged son of the Lincolns who desperately wishes to fight in the war. The various political players are aptly performed by a who’s who of top-notch Hollywood actors, with the standout being Tommy Lee Jones as abolitionist leader Thaddeus Stevens, for whom the Thirteenth Amendment is the career capstone of a life’s work campaigning against slavery.

Artistically, Spielberg is at the top of his game. His usual collaborators are in fine form. John Williams’ gorgeous score is mature and understated when it could have so easily overpowered the film’s intimate ambiance. The excellent cinematography by Janusz Kaminski is similarly understated, in muted tones of greys, blues, and browns (with the occasional burst of red, white and blue). Spielberg’s art directors, production designers and costume designers perfectly capture the look and feel of 1865 Washington. It’s a place where canes and corsets prevail, handlebar moustaches are grown unironically, and everything is just a little bit creaky and covered in dust, fireplace soot, and tobacco smoke.

Lincoln is a masterpiece of period filmmaking, immersing the viewer in a pivotal period in American history through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures. From the acting to the language to the costumes (of course Lincoln wore a shawl on those cold nights in the White House!), nothing feels false in this film. For a filmmaker like Spielberg—who has been known to over-sentimentalize his material—Lincoln represents an impressively mature, restrained work. Apart from a few too many endings (Spielberg’s Achilles heel), it’s a very focused, concise treatment of a huge topic.

The film is bookended by two of Lincoln’s iconic speeches, opening with the aforementioned Gettysburg Address and ending with the iconic “with malice toward none, with charity for all” section from Lincoln’s second inaugural address. The latter—with its resolve to “strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds”—builds on the hopes of the former, with its desire to launch a “new birth of freedom” that will justify the blood shed by so many. In these two speeches we see how tragic and yet how inspirational is the story of Lincoln. He did much as president to bind up the nation’s wounds, and yet he died well before he could see the full legacy of the work in which he and others labored.

We see that legacy today, however. And Spielberg’s beautiful film helps us see it more clearly than ever.

Related posts:

I really enjoyed hearing Gus Malzahn speak at the final Little Rock Touchdown meeting on Nov 19, 2012. He covered several subjects that he covered a few days earlier at a touchdown club in Huntsville. Here are some of his comments from that meeting:

But reports that he could be the next coach at Auburn, if the university parts ways with Gene Chizik, or Tennessee or Arkansas, don’t interest him, Malzahn said.

“I’m the head coach at Arkansas State, and that’s my only focus right now,” he told a gathering of media members before speaking to the New Horizons Credit Union 1st and 10 Club at Heron Lakes Country Club.

He echoed that sentiment when responding to a question from a club member after addressing the group: “The only thing I’m in the mix for is the Sun Belt Conference championship, and that’s all that’s on my mind right now.”

Malzahn has Arkansas State at 8-3 overall and atop the Sun Belt Conference with a 6-1 record. The Red Wolves have an open date this week before closing the regular season against Middle Tennessee in a game that will decide the conference’s champion.

Malzahn turned down the chance to be Vanderbilt’s coach when Auburn won the BCS national championship in 2010 before taking over at Arkansas State a season later. On Monday night, he gave several reasons why he’d like to stay with the Red Wolves and outlined his plan for the program in his home state.

“Things are going great,” Malzahn said. “We’ve set attendance records. We’re playing our best football right now. We’ve got a six-game winning streak. We’re playing for the conference championship in two weeks, which is very exciting. The future is very bright.”

But Malzahn has found some things to like beyond the football field at Arkansas State.

He mentioned a couple of times that the college football life can be hard on coaches’ families, and he said his youngest daughter, 18-year-old Kenzie, was “very happy” in their new situation. “That means a lot to a dad,” Malzahn said. He also said Jonesboro, Ark., was three- to three-and-half hours from where he grew up. “I got to see my mom on Mother’s Day for the first time since I started coaching college football,” Malzahn said of his first year at Arkansas State.

Still, the job is football. Malzahn pointed to plans for a $25 million football complex at ASU and said he was “motivated by the challenge of building.”

“I’ve told people I want to make Arkansas State the Boise State of the South,” Malzahn said. “We’re recruiting, not against the Sun Belt, but we’re recruiting against the SEC, we’re recruiting against the Big Ten.

“We want to make Arkansas State a top-25 team year in and year out. If we can finish this thing, we have a chance to do that this year.”

Arkansas State football coach Gus Malzahn was in Mobile on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, to speak to the New Horizons Credit Union 1st and 10 Club at Heron Lakes Country Club. (Mike Brantley/mbrantley@al.com) 

Malzahn said he didn’t want Arkansas State to be “a one-hit wonder,” but hoped to have the type of program that goes to a bowl after every season.

“We are going to a bowl (this season),” Malzahn said, “and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if we came here.”

The GoDaddy.com Bowl, which will be played Jan. 6 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, will match a team from the Sun Belt Conference against a team from the Mid-American Conference.

Malzahn has experience with the local game. He was the offensive coordinator for Tulsa when the Golden Hurricane won Mobile’s bowl after the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Last season, he watched Arkansas State play Northern Illinois in the GoDaddy.com Bowl after being named the successor to Hugh Freeze, who left the Red Wolves for Ole Miss.

“I’m a big fan of this area,” Malzahn said. “I came here for two years back when it was the GMAC Bowl with Tulsa, and now that I’ve been to some other bowls I can say the way that you all roll out the red carpet for the teams that come in is really unbelievable.”

If this year’s GoDaddy.com Bowl rolls out the red carpet for the Sun Belt champion, that team will be the winner of the Dec. 1 Arkansas State-Middle Tennessee game.

“That’s a team that beat Georgia Tech by two touchdowns earlier this year,” Malzahn said of the Blue Raiders, “so you’re talking about a team that can play with anybody.”

Malzahn said he had been impressed by the Sun Belt in his first season in the conference.

“I didn’t know what to think when I first got in because I had been in the SEC for three years,” Malzahn said. “But there are some great teams in this league. And I think you can see the way they’ve played out of conference. There’s some big wins, some close games. You look at Lafayette, the way they played Florida a couple of weeks ago. This is one of those up-and-coming conferences, and there’s a lot of good players and good teams.”

Arkansas State’s losses this season have come against Oregon, Nebraska and Western Kentucky. The Red Wolves lost to Oregon 57-34 on Sept. 1, and Malzahn said he was surprised the Ducks lost to Stanford last week.

“It shocked me they got beat,” he said. “It goes to show you that week to week anything can happen in college football. I thought that bunch was better than the team we played with Auburn (in the 2010 BCS national championship game). (Oregon coach) Chip Kelly, he’s a buddy of mine, and he thought they were, too.”

Before beginning his talk to the 1st and 10 Club, Malzahn said he needed “to take the lay of the land” and asked how many Auburn fans and how many Alabama fans were in the crowd.

Then he told them, “I didn’t wear red for three years until I got on that plane to go to Arkansas State.”

He also had a comment or two for fans of other teams.

To the Ole Miss faithful, Malzahn said of Freeze, “What he’s doing right now at that place is really unbelievable.”

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Related posts:

The good character of new Arkansas St Coach Gus Malzahn