Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #27: Lincoln (2012)

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln was one of his long-running projects. Earlier on, it was to be a more general biopic with Liam Neeson as the famed Abraham Lincoln. By the time it finally swung into proper production, however, Neeson dropped out and Daniel Day-Lewis took his place. Wisely, Spielberg also abandoned the idea of a film covering years, if not decades, of Lincoln’s life, a common mistake of biopics that results in unfocused, hole-ridden storylines. Instead he zeroed in on the president’s attempt to get the 13^th Amendment passed in the House of Representatives.

The 13^th Amendment was to end slavery once and for all in the United States. It was the culmination of years of policy development during the Civil War. Though he hated slavery, Lincoln knew he could not abolish it and instead had supported the Republican Party’s views of preventing its expansion into new territories. As the war progressed, however, the Union Army and Federal government could not ignore the fact that slave labor fueled the Confederacy, so runaway slaves were accepted as “contraband” enemy property. By 1865 many now believed that slavery had to be abolished, whether out of moral concerns or the pragmatic belief that it would result in more strife down the road.

The 13^th Amendment is opposed by various Democrats and some of the more conservative Republicans. A greater threat is a Confederate peace commission. If slavery’s continued existence in a restored Union ensures that a long, bloody war can finally end right now, many in the House will see the 13^th as a guaranteed war to keep the body count going. Many historians disputed the central conflict of Lincoln, arguing that there was no way slavery could remain intact after the Civil War, even if the amendment initially failed to pass.

While this would undercut the urgency and drama of the movie’s central conflict, Spielberg still does a masterful job showing how politics work. Lincoln has to employ lobbyists (led by James Spader as William N. Bilbo) to look for Democrats whom they can convince to vote yea, via promised jobs and other enticements. At the same time Lincoln has to convince the Radical Republicans to compromise on related issues such as black enfranchisement which could scare off middle-of-the-road House Representatives. At the same time a few of the more conservative Republicans are willing to forego the Amendment if it means hastening the war’s end.

Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) tries to assist her husband's political goals
:by playing White House hostess. The two Lincoln sons stand on the left.

This movie has loads of real-life historical figures, so I won’t touch on all of them. Of the three main factions Lincoln has to navigate, there is a primary character for each one. Perhaps in an intentional reference to the preponderance of cinematic Lincolns, Spielberg cast Hal Holbrook (who played the 16^th president in both the 1974 Lincoln and North & South miniseries) as Republican party founder Francis Preston Blair. The Blairs were a powerful family with several of the men having considerable influence during the Civil War. Francis is the more conservative voice of the party, but does come through for Lincoln in the last act. Lee Pace plays New York congressman Fernando Wood and tends to lead the opposition to the 13^th Amendment. The real-life Wood opposed a Federal anti-slavery measure since he believed it violated rights to property as well as rights reserved to the states, so naturally Spielberg uses him as a villain.

The heart of the anti-13th Amendment faction (with Lee Pace's Fernando Wood pointing; https://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/blogdivided/2013/02/24/15-examples-of-fiction-in-lincoln-movie-climax/). I'm not sure it's an inaccuracy, but the House of Representatives is fully filled out when quite a few chairs would be empty due to the absence of the seceded Southern representatives. Also, the link discusses some inaccuracies on how the vote for the 13th Amendment proceeded.

The highlight for moviegoers was Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican and Abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens was a rare politician who always voted according to his conscience and thus irked those who understood that compromise was necessary. Stevens previously appeared via an expy in the infamous Birth of a Nation (1915), where he was shown plotting the demise of the white South through his radical policies. His black mistress (a real-life rumor) was supposed to make him less sympathetic in that movie. In Lincoln Spielberg turns this on its head. Now Stevens is able to navigate his conscience while still compromising for the sake of the Amendment, and his black mistress is more of a common law wife. For an example of how awesome Tommy Lee Jones’ performance is, check out this scene.

Daniel Day-Lewis absolutely rules as Abraham Lincoln. The famed method actor did all he could to bring the president accurately to life, reportedly consuming about one hundred books and staying in character even when the cameras weren’t rolling. The crew, including Spielberg himself, had to address him as “President” to get his attention. Much was made of his voice, which as with other Lincoln performances was folksy, but not as deep as is often the case. This is because the real Lincoln’s voice was actually higher-pitched. It is a credit to Day-Lewis’ skill that, against popular conception, the voice is easily adjusted to. I also appreciate the script for how it incorporated Lincoln’s penchant for inserting relevant jokes and stories for important matters.

Lincoln meets with some of his cabinet members and other major Republicans

It should be noted that the movie leans towards the hagiographical view of Lincoln. On matters of equality and freedom, he’s far ahead of most of the other characters. At the same time he’s an incredible canny politician. Conveniently for Spielberg’s positive vision, the focus on early 1865 allows him to sidestep thornier issues such as the federal government’s controversial war policies such as suspending habeas corpus and shutting down unfavorable newspapers. By this stage of the war Lincoln was also much wiser as commander-in-chief, letting major subordinates such as Ulysses S. Grant (played by Jared Harris in this movie) make most of the major military decisions. I don’t think Spielberg has this view, but for most of the war Lincoln’s performance on managing military affairs was mixed at best (if you have time, listen to this stream).

While Daniel Day-Lewis’ Lincoln is still a larger-than-life, widely praised historical figure, he is by no means mythologized, with his family drama in particular humanizing him. Sally Field portrays Mary Todd Lincoln, and it’s incredible how similar she looks to the historical figure. Spielberg leans into Mary Todd’s mental problems, which combined with the loss of a son (Willie Lincoln) and the stress of the war puts a strain on their marriage. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (back when he was getting big roles in big movies) is Robert Lincoln, who’s been prevented from signing up for the Union Army at the insistence of his mother. With the war probably nearing its end, he’s desperate to serve in some way, leading to more family drama. Tad Lincoln (Gulliver McGrath) is the younger son and Gloria Reuben appears as Mary Todd’s seamstress Elizabeth Keckley, who actually has quite the life story herself. For the film’s purposes she gives some representation to the Black Americans who want the enslavement of their people to end.

Mary Todd in a private emotional moment with Abraham Lincoln.

Quickly I should address a couple other major characters. David Strathairn turns in a good performance as Secretary of State William Seward, one of Lincoln’s most important confidantes and the one who raises most of the reasonable issues and objections about the 13^th Amendment. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Bruce McGill) is as cantankerous as reported, but also played as still caring. Personally I’m in the camp of Civil war buffs and historians who think Stanton was an opportunistic snake (check out William Marvel’s biography of him), but he’s not a major part of this film so it’s not really important. The Confederates are only lightly represented, with a special shout-out to actor Jackie Earle Haley. His resemblance to Vice-President Alexander Stephens is uncanny, and he even sounds exactly how I imagined him to.

The military side of the Civil War is secondary, but Spielberg shows that he did his homework here. The film opens with a very brief scene of the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, where the 2^nd Kansas Colored Regiment, avenging the massacring of its sister regiment the 1^st Kansas Colored, had a brutal fight on rain-soaked ground in Arkansas. I don’t know why a soldier from a Kansas regiment has transferred to an eastern regiment, but I like to see lesser known battles get attention. The Battle of Fort Fisher, where the Union closed the last major Confederate port and thus its last Trans-Atlantic lifeline, is conveyed via telegraph messages at the war office. Lincoln famously spent a lot of time there, keeping closely apprised of military events. We also get a brief glimpse of the burning of Richmond and the aftermath of the final bloody assaults on the Petersburg entrenchments, the latter moment hitting Lincoln hard as (according to this movie) he could have prevented this last bloodbath by compromising on the 13^th Amendment.

Robert E. Lee appears for the fourth time on this cinemathon in a wordless
scene showing the resolution of his surrender at Appomattox Court House.

On a final note, I love how after Lincoln's assassination (is it really a spoiler?) Spielberg graces us with a portion of his second inaugural speech to end things on a more positive note.

Lincoln arguably makes the outcomes of the Civil War, particularly the death of legal slavery, less certain than they actually were, but it’s still a tremendous historical drama. You’ve got Spielberg just before his more underwhelming twilight years, John Williams on music, incredible attention to historical details, and a massive perfectly-cast collection of actors. This is a nigh-perfect movie, and Spielberg is one of the few directors who can make politics entertaining (though it helps that 19^th Century politics are already more entertaining).

Rating: 10/10