Lincoln is likely the most epic cinematic treatment of the American legislative process that moviegoers will ever see. Director Steven Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner eschew the standard biopic formula and instead choose to focus on Lincoln’s efforts to pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the final months of his presidency. Much of the movie is devoted to Lincoln’s efforts to round up enough Democratic votes to pass the amendment through the Republican-led House. To accomplish his goal, Lincoln—the closest thing to a deity in American history–is not above resorting to the venal: political patronage and obfuscation of the truth. Some of the movie’s most watchable moments are those featuring two hired political guns (James Spader and John Hawkes) trying to coax votes from cowardly and/or greedy lame duck representatives.
Daniel Day-Lewis is folksy yet mercurial as Lincoln, yet it’s Tommy Lee Jones who gives a much more compelling performance as the abolitionist congressman Thaddeus Stevens, leader of the radical Republicans in the House. In a private moment with Lincoln, Stevens goes on at length about his uncompromising commitment to racial equality while making clear his contempt for the vast majority of the American electorate, whom he regards as irredeemably racist. It’s an important scene; Lincoln is often portrayed as the Great Emancipator, but he arrived late to a cause that had much more committed champions.
