OVP: Lincoln (2012)

Film: Lincoln (2012)
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Lee Pace, Michael Stuhlberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Oscar History: 12 nominations (Best Picture, Director, Actor-Daniel Day-Lewis*, Supporting Actress-Sally Field, Supporting Actor-Tommy Lee Jones, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Mixing, Costume, Art Direction*)
(Slightly) Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I've spent a week contemplating what I thought of Lincoln.  While with a previous film, Compliance, I had to do it because I had conflicted feelings about the movie that was being presented and whether I loathed it or whether that loathing, gutteral reaction was a sign that it was brilliant, with Lincoln I feel like I was deciding between celebration and indifference.  I'm hoping that this review is able to sort out my feelings for the film, and I'm just going to let my opinions take form as I write, so I'm not 100% certain where this review is going to land in terms of rave or disappointment.

The film tells the tale of the Illinois Rail Splitter, Honest Abe, and especially, the Great Emancipator.  The film, unlike many other previous incarnations of the tale of the 16th president, focuses exclusively on his adult life and his last year in office.  At this point, Lincoln had passed beyond the mere title of president and of a man of great power in the world and had entered legend-one of those rare people you know you will be hearing about for hundreds of years to come.  His work in the film, the way he is both cementing what he knows to be right as well as his overall legacy, is through the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Though I'm not familiar enough with American History to be able to tell every poltiical nugget in the film as gospel versus hearsay, even the least civically-minded of us knows that this was an uphill battle in the United States House.  The film also seems to tease that Lincoln kept the war going in order to get the amendment passed, a sort of political savvy that is not always attributed to Lincoln, though I suspect was likely true.  Lincoln was many things to many people, but he was also a politician, and knew what needed to be done to get something passed through a Congress in which he had once served.

The film seems to teeter between Lincoln and the happenings of the House of Representatives.  Considering his role as the title character, Day-Lewis's Lincoln slips into the background with a stunning regularity throughout the movie.  It's not that Day-Lewis isn't up to his always brilliant caliber (more on the acting later, but spoiler alert-he's terrific), it's that there are many scenes you almost feel as if he isn't necessary to be there.  I'm assuming again, but it's highly believable that Lincoln, a man who likely suffered from clinical depression and who had suffered many defeats and more horror than most men can possibly fathom, would be used to sharing spare words on politics and instead show off his prowess for trivia and story-telling (a frequent plot device to relieve the tension).  I'm a little undecided on whether or not this is affective, though, as Day-Lewis is the drawing card here, and many of us may be hoping that we'd see the Lincoln of legend, but again, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt here.  Plus, anything that can disrupt the "typical political biopic," tropes which this film falls into regularly otherwise is a good thing.

I should mention right now that I'm not a fan of biopics on principle, and the reason for that is simple, and on display particularly in Lincoln-if a story is true, and in this case very, very well-known, the surprise of what will happen is never in doubt.  I don't need to include a spoiler alert that the North does indeed win the war, that the thirteenth amendment does indeed pass, and that Lincoln is assassinated, but remains a legend and beloved in the hearts of the people.  The film tries to build suspense by including subplots that we aren't sure about-which of the characters will be the deciding votes and which won't, but Spielberg denies us that suspense when he makes it obvious who will deflect from the Democrats and vote to abolish by casting famous character actors as each dissenter.  Will the decisive vote be "Random Headshot #4" or will it be Golden Globe nominee Michael Stuhlberg?  What makes a movie like Argo better than Lincoln (and even with my conflicted feelings about Spielberg's epic, I can tell you Argo is miles better, a statement that likely needs to be made since they are about to be mentioned together quite frequently with the Best Picture race heating up) is that Argo has the ability to create suspense even with its known elements.  Even if you're familiar with the Canadian Caper, the smaller facts-will everyone make it, why did they escape when no one else did, how exactly do they get past customs?-keep the suspense up and the script and plotting tight.  Lincoln doesn't have that luxury when it gives away one of the few question marks for the average moviegoer by casting famous people in every key role as if this isn't a somber historical epic, and instead it's more like It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Civil War.  You half expect Jack Benny to show up as Robert E. Lee toward the end of the film!

The film has two great assets, and aside from its formulaic lack of suspense, one more huge debit, so I'll cover those three before I turn the review over to you and your thoughts.  The first asset, and the most obvious, is Spielberg and Company.  Even when Spielberg is at his worst (which this is not, though it's certainly not his best), he is a master behind the lens, and is able to pull something from his actors and from his story to keep you interested.  Familiar it may be, but it does become compelling at times, and in particular the opening scene is the sort of daunting, large cinema in which Spielberg specializes.  And with Spielberg comes Michael Kahn, John Williams, Janusz Kaminski, and a dozen or so less-well known technicians that can bring to life a movie house like few others can.  The film is technically stunning and beauty, if sometimes a little too earthy in the cinematography for my taste (Kaminski does so well with blue and fantastical, I wish Spielberg would tackle an A.I.: Artificial Intelligence once again).  And Williams, my favorite, once again delivers a strong, majestic score to carry the film through some of its slower bits.

The other great asset is the cast.  You don't put Oscar-winners like Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones onto a screen together without something wonderful happening, and all three are excellent.  Day-Lewis, so inhabited in his character, seems to physically absorb the wear of a man who has carried the souls of thousands and thousands of young men on his back, crouching and feeling the weight of the world in his cragged face and his thin, bony fingers.  Day-Lewis seems most comfortable with Lincoln the Saint, which is odd because he's historically so good at playing cunning, and doesn't quite know how to handle Lincoln when he's being a bit duplicitous, though perhaps that's becuase duplicity wasn't the historical Lincoln's forte.  Sally Field, as the "Mad" Mary Todd doesn't get the scenery-chewing that this role could typically embrace (Spielberg seems intent on rehabilitating both Lincolns, and unlike the revered former president, Mary Todd could probably do with some rehabilitation), and therefore she gets to be a smart, savvy woman who can cut anyone down, who clearly is reeling with depression from the death of her son, and cunningly knows that she's the most powerful woman in Washington.  You see in her actions and in the way she manipulates her husband the smart woman that some biographers have tried to exhibit her as, and Field, more than anyone else in the film, is clearly enjoying herself in this role, the best one in film in at least fifteen years.  Despite the fact that she has two Oscars, this is an actress constantly underestimated, and I really want to acknowledge Spielberg for giving this role to an actress who doesn't immediately come to mind.

Jones is probably the male actor of the large casting list that has the best shot at getting in the Supporting Actor race, as his "liberal" Sen. Stevens gets a lot of great, cutting lines, and at least two beautiful, Osar-worthy clips.  Jones, so ragged and so wry in his work, is a bit typecast in this film (this role, written down on paper, screams for him to play it more than almost anyone else, excluding a slightly younger Charles Durning), but he does well with the plum part that he has been given.  In fact, the only slightly askew link in the top-billed cast is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who gets the thankless role of Robert Lincoln, the President's son who joins the war late in an ancillary plotline that goes absolutely nowhere, and in a performance that Gordon-Levitt, so gorgeous and intelligent, doesn't really know what to do with-is he a spoiled brat, a man coming of age, or a man who loathes his father for creating impossibly large shoes for him to fill?

The last caveat I have about the film regards the very concept of the biopic-I know that with one human life, particularly one as accomplished and as influential as Lincoln's, you can't include everything, but I always have a little bit of trouble with biographies that completely steer clear of the harder, more difficult aspects of a person's life.  The film doesn't have a lot of problems with imagining certain events or assuming certain aspects of different historical people's lives, so why is there no real focus on Lincoln's famous depression or his alleged (though pretty strongly alleged) bisexuality?  The film bears a remarkable resemblance to A Beautiful Mind and to some degree J. Edgar in that regard (yes, J. Edgar did have the faintest whiff of homosexuality, but only in one scene despite the fact that the two men had been together for forty years), and it's a pity, because this is a topic that Steven Spielberg has covered before in a much better film (The Color Purple).  History is only as real as we allow it to be, and I found myself wishing for a braver, fuller look at a man who has been examined so many times before.  No man is a saint, and to imply otherwise is disappointing.

So, after re-reading the review, I guess I find the film commendable, but a disappointment.  That said, I will throw in one last caveat that I'm still a huge fan of Spielberg-like almost everyone, I've seen most of his films (getting closer and closer to all of his films), and every one of them has something to recommend themselves, but I do wish that he would stray back into fantasy adventure sometime soon (and not just the animated sort, but the Jurassic Park or E.T. or Minority Report sort).  Perhaps his next film (rumored to be Robopocalypse) will be just the ticket.

But those are my thoughts, and considering the lines outside of the theater last night for Lincoln (I saw another film that I'm about to review), you likely have thoughts as well-please share them in the comments.