“Our Greatest President”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

 

Lincoln is an excellent film about the last few months of the life of our 16th president when he was faced with an almost impossible task: Get the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed by a lame-duck congress before the Civil War ends.

The 13th Amendment states simply, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitute, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The time was January 1865, Lincoln had just been reelected to his second term, the resolution had been passed the previous year by the Senate, but defeated by the House, and Lincoln was trying to get it passed by the House so that it would become law before the Civil War ended and the Southern representatives rejoined Congress, in which case it would never be passed.

So, the film is about the wheeling and dealing in Washington in order to get something achieved, which makes it as timely as today’s Washington.

Daniel Day-Lewis plays Lincoln, and at one point he tells his cabinet of officers, “As the preacher said, I could write shorter sermons, but once I start, I get too lazy to stop.”

We are told that it is not illegal to bribe Congressmen, because they starve otherwise, which may or may not be true, and we see many of the influences being peddled by the men who are working to get the amendment passed, which becomes complex and confusing, but don’t try to follow and understand everything. Just let the story and its details wash over you and admire them.

Especially admire the work of Day-Lewis as Lincoln, as well as the outstanding work of Sally Field, James Spader, and Tommy Lee Jones, among many others.

Also admire the directing of Steven Spielberg, although you might be distracted by the opening scene and think that it is too much of a reminder of the opening of the 1998 Saving Private Ryan.

In fact, there are many parallels in this film that are intended to make a point and a reference to our modern times, and that is perfectly acceptable.

Lincoln is a great film about whom many claim to be our greatest president.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”