Lincoln

Oscars watch: I'm very certain that I won't be able to watch all nine films nominated for Best Picture before the ceremony (oh well, I'll be trying, and there's always next year). But here's is my review on the sixth nominee.

There has been some negative talk about this film due to few historical inaccuracies. As a foreigner, I am not very familiar with American history (which is, without a doubt, much older and complicated than Australian history), therefore I don’t know a great deal about America’s sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln. All I knew about him was that he was a Republican, he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, and he’s the face on the American five-dollar note. But there is one thing that I’m certain of, and that is, Daniel Day-Lewis gives a damn-good performance as Lincoln – his voice, his body language, I’m not sure what Lincoln’s mannerisms were, but Day-Lewis truly shows the determination and charisma of an old and tired, yet inspirational president.

I haven’t looked into what’s been claimed as historically inaccurate, but, I’m assuming that what has made Lincoln such a popular figure – who’s been dead for 148 years – was his great legacy to America, and maybe, for this film, that’s all that matters.

Steven Spielberg’s, Lincoln, is set during the closing of the American Civil War and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlaws slavery. This story also explores Lincoln’s personal hardships during this compelling time: the straining relationship with his eldest son, Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who’s longing to serve in the war is forbidden by his father and his resilient mother, Mary (Sally Field), whose ongoing grief for the death of their middle child Willie, who died three years earlier, has deeply wounded their marriage.

Spielberg has spent as long as a decade researching on this influential individual and you can certainly feel the passion and curiosity he has for his subject. This superbly aesthetic film (thanks to Spielberg’s entrusted cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski), which is written by Tony Kushner (who also wrote Spielberg’s, Munich), is a courageous attempt on reaching the very soul of Lincoln. This two and a half hour spectacle, is, at first, slow, but once you get a grasp of the characters and the politics, it surely lures you in – and I think part of it has to do with Day-Lewis’s incredible performance, as well as Tommy Lee Jones and a swarm of incredible actors who make up a strong supporting cast – much like reading a great novel, where its dense prose disconcerts you at first, but once you power through the first chapter, you've grown comfortable with its unique style of writing.

This is a film purely made for American audiences, which I think is one of the reasons why it’s a favourite at this year’s Oscars – its main rival is Ben Affleck’s, Argo. But I don’t think it has a greater universal appeal which Argo certainly possesses. Lincoln, does primarily focus on the politics more so than on the human spirit, but this is not to say that what President Lincoln did for America doesn't reflect his human spirit, rather, the politics is so vast and overwhelming – and for those who aren't American, the politics is very foreign – in this film, that it loses some of that universal appeal. 2010’s Best Picture winner, The King’s Speech, is a good example of this notion, where the film encompasses English politics and culture, but the human spirit is very much there, with the main character, a royal who has a great personal flaw which happens to disrupt his leadership, though he develops a great friendship with the man who helps him deal with his defect.

This is quite a momentous film to power through, but if you’re game, why not give it a go… nothing stopped President Lincoln from trying.