Technical
assessment: 4
Moral
assessment: 4
CINEMA
rating: PG 13
MTRCB
rating: PG 13
Film
is indeed a powerful medium for teaching history. Had we not watched Lincoln
and been awed by the riveting performance of Daniel Day-Lewis, the United
States’ 16th president would have remained in our mind as nothing
more than a shiny marble statue.
Lincoln chronicles the last month, January 1865,
in the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United
States, as he zeroes in on the last and greatest win of his political
career—the abolition of slavery in America.
Director
Spielberg does right in depicting a Lincoln that is at once iconic and
human. Far from being a
traditional bio-pic that tends to paint a glossier-than-reality picture of a
revered character, Lincoln shows how
a principled man may still be admired despite his political savvy that enabled
him to resort to the maneuverings prevalent in his time.
President
# 16 has been played by so many estimable actors since 1930, but in Lincoln, the role is not played, it is
lived—to the point that it becomes difficult to tell whether it is the actor
Day-Lewis inhabiting the Lincoln character, or the spirit of Lincoln inhabiting
the actor’s body. A well-chosen
cast combined with matchless supporting performances—notably by Tommy Lee Jones
(as Thaddeus Stevens) and Sally field (as Mary Todd Lincoln) add to an
authentic reliving of Lincoln’s struggle towards his goal. To the last detail, the rich production
sets are adjudged faithful to Abe’s life and times, bringing the past vividly back
to life to afford the viewer a peek into history.
The
sessions in Congress where the battle over the 13th Amendment is
raging is particularly eye-opening to contemporary political observers. They reveal that some things in the
field of public service have not changed—and perhaps never will—such as under
the table deals, patronage positions as bribes, presidential strategizing and pressure
on the House of Representatives to ensure the passage of an amendment,
etc. The latter may evoke a
feeling of déjà vu in people quite familiar with the debates that not too long
ago raged over an RH bill in the Philippine Congress, and the nonchalance with
which some lawmakers dismissed the Executive railroading of the contentious
bill. In his rush to pass the 13th
amendment, Lincoln utilized all the tricks in his arsenal. Sounds familiar? But of course, presidential maneuvering
of the Legislative branch takes on a different coloration depending on the
issue at hand: a law abolishing slavery is not the same as a law establishing a
contraceptive mentality.
It
might also come as some form of warped consolation to Filipinos that their
present-day solons’ (mis)behavior is civil compared to that of the
insult-hurling American counterparts in 1865. If in 1865 their congressional session room resembled a saloon
filled with trigger happy cowboys, ours in 2012 was simply reminiscent of
classroom of overgrown kindergarteners who couldn’t differentiate between study
and play. One noticeable thing,
though: the 1865 lawmakers hurled verbal darts at one another, but God was
acknowledged in the process of lawmaking.
In the 2012 RH arena… well, make your own conclusions.
Kudos
to the Spielberg-Kushner tandem that brought out the Oscar-winning performance
of Day-Lewis, the Abraham Lincoln that came alive onscreen proves worthy of the
reverence accorded him by his countrymen—a doting father, a sympathetic
husband, a statesman made of fire and ice, wisdom and wile, a soul blessed with
courage and grace, a human being who passionately went after his dream and paid
the price for it. Certainly a very
very far cry from being a mere marble monument.
