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Lincoln

Just watched “Lincoln” which is probably, technically, illegal, seeing as how it’s still in  cinemas, but I don’t give a fuck about that, if I can download something and  watch it for free I’m going to do it and I do not feel personally responsible for taking money out of Steven Spielberg’s pocket.  He can afford it a lot more than I can.

It was a good film, even a great film in parts and I can understand why Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor.  Despite the presence of many other actors, it was a one man show.

Politics - The Art of Knocking Heads Together

Politics – The Art of Knocking Heads Together

Several of the congressmen gave brilliant performances, it was an interesting view of the politics of the time and I loved Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens in his speech where he said he knew that all men were not created equal because the congressman he was addressing (a Democrat, who would today be a Republican) was born with half a brain and sludge running through his veins instead of blood).  It was much more bare knuckle than the politics of today.

Sally Field was brilliant as Mary Lincoln but, really, the part was not large.  In fact, all of the female characters were in the background, in tune with the reality of the times.

There was little battlefield drama and not a great  deal of action in the sense that most movies have action.  Helena got a little bit bored.  “Is this just going to be people talking all the time?”  Yes, yes it was, and I thought that was great.

We need more films like that.

I loved Lincoln’s rambling stories.  I suspect they were more or less verbatim as recorded by people who heard them and later written down in books because Lincoln was certainly a man who people paid a lot of attention to even in his own time.  The story about Ethan Allen and the British toilet, the story about the 77 year old woman who killed her abusive husband, the whaling analogy, the story of why his father moved the family to Indiana, this, to me, was the thread of the movie, the thing that held it together and made it an  exceptional movie, rather than just another movie.

I recommend it.

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