LINCOLN (2012) a movie review

I think Spielberg was smart to focus the movie on short time frame, but I question whether the passage of the 13th amendment should have been his pivotal moment. We already know it passes and anyone that has read the history knows it would have passed pretty easily later as the 14th and 15th amendments passed after the completion of the war. The legislative battle has some drama, but it's nothing that we haven't seen before. The film's small moments work best with Lincoln and Seward or Lincoln and his family. Spielberg seems true to the Lincoln as raconteur and the stories he shares are memorable. Daniel Day Lewis has that Lincoln twang that most actors have adopted throughout the years that makes it authentic, although we have no idea what he sounded like. It is somewhat curious that Spielberg chooses to join the action directly after the completion of two significant historical moments, Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination. Maybe the latter has been done enough times, but I have not yet seen good a depiction of the former. Spielberg has the right actors, tone, setting, and authenticity, but he chooses the formula battle instead of trusting the smaller moments to carry the action. It may not have been the strongest choice.