It's interesting, in my - extremely small - polling sample Americans who saw the movie loved it, while non-USians found it overly reverential. I wonder if studying Lincoln in school added a needed layer of perspective to appreciate him better?
I will agree that the acting was all-round awesome.
I'm surprised that people found it reverential. It showed Lincoln engaging in dirty politics, bribery and seriously contemplating extending a war in order to ensure the 13th amendment passed.
Personally I thought the movie stopped dead every time Lincoln gave a speech or told a story. Yes, there was the funny under-cutting moment when the War Secretary stormed off in the middle of one, but everyone else gathered round to listen. Also it doesn't need to be said at this point that Spielberg doesn't know when to end his movies but this seemed to be an especially good example. I loved the West Wing-style political parts, especially with James Spader and his crew, and wanted more of those.
Ah, but the thing is, that was Lincoln's style. He really did tell those kinds of stories constantly. I think it made people think he was a just a naive uneducated county boy, when he was anything but.
As fas as the ending, I suspect he felt he had to end it with his death. And the movie makes a subtle argument that it was the passage of the 13th amendment which led directly to the assasination.
One thing I found very interesting is how much politics hasn't changed. It was just as partisan then and bribery (in the form of patronage jobs) was just as alive and well.
One bit of miscasting... Peter McRobbie, the actor who played George Pendleton was about 30 years too old for the part. Pendleton, one of the chief opponents of the 13th Amendment in the movie, is mostly known now for sponsoring landmark Civil Service reform in the 1880s in response to the assassination of President Garfield. Legislation that greatly reduced corruption but also would have prevented the tactics employed in the movie.
Of course, those amendments also passed because 11 state delegations were absent from Congress. They never would have passed if the South hadn't seceded.
Also, though he's a really good actor, it's still weird to hear Thaddeus Stevens' words delivered in a Texan drawl. Kind of like hearing scottish brogue coming out of the mouth of an Egyptian named Ramirez.
Plenty of very accurate touches. Jackie Earle Haley looked incredibly like Alexander Stephens.
With Stevens, there's some degree of ambiguity. He never married, they lived together for year, and he left her a very generous settlement in his will. Supposedly, their neighbors treated them as common-law man and wife... but there were also family members that said they were just dear friends. And nothing that would directly confirm either way. Certainly very possible, though.
Well, I would discount the family - I can't imagine them wanting to admit to such a thing. So, I would tend to belive the neighbors. It would certainly explain why it was such an important issue for Stephens for that many years.
We saw this last weekend and thought it was absolutely brilliant. The funny thing is that we've been rewatching S1 of The West Wing lately, and you're right, politics has hardly changed at all in 150 years!
I second your opinion - it's absolutely worth seeing.
That part was a real surprise to me. I don't know that much about American politics (not my country after all...) and the fact that the Republicans were so much more liberal back then definitely caught me off guard.
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I will agree that the acting was all-round awesome.
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As fas as the ending, I suspect he felt he had to end it with his death. And the movie makes a subtle argument that it was the passage of the 13th amendment which led directly to the assasination.
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One bit of miscasting... Peter McRobbie, the actor who played George Pendleton was about 30 years too old for the part. Pendleton, one of the chief opponents of the 13th Amendment in the movie, is mostly known now for sponsoring landmark Civil Service reform in the 1880s in response to the assassination of President Garfield. Legislation that greatly reduced corruption but also would have prevented the tactics employed in the movie.
Of course, those amendments also passed because 11 state delegations were absent from Congress. They never would have passed if the South hadn't seceded.
Also, though he's a really good actor, it's still weird to hear Thaddeus Stevens' words delivered in a Texan drawl. Kind of like hearing scottish brogue coming out of the mouth of an Egyptian named Ramirez.
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And yes, agreed that the amendment never would have passed if those 11 states had been around.
Did Stephens actually have an affair as depicted?
Finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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With Stevens, there's some degree of ambiguity. He never married, they lived together for year, and he left her a very generous settlement in his will. Supposedly, their neighbors treated them as common-law man and wife... but there were also family members that said they were just dear friends. And nothing that would directly confirm either way. Certainly very possible, though.
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I second your opinion - it's absolutely worth seeing.
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