"Lincoln" Brief Screening Report

The 2012 film biopic “Lincoln” is a film about the last four months of the President’s life and the background of what it took to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery. The film covers both the political genius that Lincoln had to his fellow politics and advisors, as well as shows the flawed side of Lincoln when dealing with his family. This film was directed by Stephen Spielberg (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan) who is no rookie when it comes to making biopics or historical films. Lincoln is played by actor Daniel Day Lewis who totally embodies the character of Lincoln that you almost forget that you’re watching a performance.  Another great performance of the movie was by Tommy Lee Jones as the Republican Senator Thaddeus Stevens. Lee Jones delivers a very strong and central performance to the whole story.

The one scene that I thought really stood out to me was the scene between Lincoln (Day Lewis) and Stevens (Lee Jones) in the basement of the White House.  In the scene Lincoln wants Stevens to dial down his radicalism so that he doesn’t ruin the chances of passing the Thirteenth amendment. This approach to this scene is very quiet with the camera only focusing on the conversation between the two characters, while cutting to a mono shot of the character during an important thought.  The costumes are very low key just a simple suit for that time.  This scene sums up the theme of the movie cause Lincoln and Stevens both politicians with different ideals come to better understanding of what they have to do to come together with their two political styles to pass the amendment and accomplish their goal. 

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