1. What's it about?
The majority of the movie takes place in the month of January 1865, as Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) tries to push through the 13th Amendment, which will abolish slavery in the U.S. It's a bit of a race against the clock as he wants it done before the Civil War ends so that the Confederate states will have to accept abolition in order to rejoin the Union. In order to achieve this, he needs the votes of all Republican Congressmen and at least 20 Democratic members of the House; his strategy is to get these votes from outgoing members who have lost their re-election bids to Republicans. His Secretary of State (David Strathairn) recruits three disreputable operatives (Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, and James Spader) to serve as prototypical lobbyists, offering the "lame duck" Democratic congressmen plum political appointments in exchange for their votes. Meanwhile, Lincoln is grappling with family turmoil; his wife Mary (Sally Field) is still grieving the death by typhus of their son William three years earlier and Lincoln fears for her sanity, while at the same time he must deal with eldest son Robert's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) growing anger and resentment at being prevented from enlisting in the Union army.
2. Should I take my kids?
Not the younger ones. Kids under fifth or sixth grade will likely be bored by it, as the bulk of the film is a lot of talk and no physical action, and the one action scene, a battle sequence that rivals the director's Saving Private Ryan for ferocity, is savage and brutal. There's also a bit of foul language, including a hilarious example of Abe's legendary stories, this one an off-color anecdote concerning Ethan Allen and a portrait of George Washington. The performances are brilliant (Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field are going home with Oscars, no question), the script is lyrical and poetic and a joy to listen to if you have any fondness for the English language, well-written and spoken by people who know how, and the ramifications of this period are still with us today, so there's a lot we can learn and apply. If you have a bright kid who loves history, has studied the Civil War in school and wants to know more about Abraham Lincoln, by all means bring them. For other kids, find somebody to take them to the next theater at the multiplex to see Wreck-It Ralph while you enjoy Lincoln.
3. Will I like it? I hope so. It is Steven Spielberg's best work ever. He has said that this film is a labor of love, and it shows. He directs with a light touch here, leaving out all the usual tricks and gimmicks he uses to manipulate viewers into feeling whatever he wants them to. I hated The Terminal so much it made me hate his other movies; I found myself noticing him pulling the strings and saying "he always does this!" Usually, the John Williams score will slip into a minor key when you're supposed to cry, the lighting will shift to angelic Raphaelite painterly effects when you're supposed to admire somebody, and the writing will get sappy and gooey for the feel-good moments, with the full effect being that the director does not trust the audience to get it, so he has to nudge them along and make them get it. With Lincoln, if he doesn't trust the audience he at least trusts Tony Kushner's script, and the result is a film that demands you get it. Aside from the gorgeous lantern-lit cinematography and the magnificent and florid language, the cast is incredible. Hidden behind their elaborate facial hair, a veritable who's who of Hollywood disappear into their roles and deliver very real people grappling with the future of their country.
4. Really? Yes, really. Reading the end credits, I kept seeing familiar names and thinking "I didn't see him in there." On a second viewing I started recognizing people like Hal Holbrook, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill (Animal House), S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order), Jared Harris (Mad Men) and the aforementioned Tim Blake Nelson and James Spader. Gloria Ruben has some beautiful moments as Mary Todd Lincoln's servant, including one little exchange wherein she tells young Tad Lincoln (Gulliver McGrath) of her slave experience. There is not a weak performance or false note in the film.
5. Isn't it just political propaganda from Hollywood's elite? Far from it. Even if we ignore the fact that Spielberg deliberately insisted that the studio hold Lincoln back until after the election lest it become part of the debate, there's the simple fact that neither party comes out looking particularly good here. Lincoln himself articulates the reasons why his actions as President may have been illegal or at least dictatorial, and the bulk of the film concerns the ugly, dirty, slimy, corrupt and underhanded vote-buying and favor-trading that went into getting slavery abolished. The fact that the arguments in favor of and against slavery sound very similar to current debates over current social issues is unavoidable, but at no time does anyone "hang a lampshade on it" or call attention to the fact in a way that reduces the film to little more than allegory. Instead, it makes the case that we are going to have to address these issues through loud and acrimonious debate and probably a little unsavory vote-brokering. There's also the cautionary tale that Lincoln's single-minded determination to pass this piece of legislation immediately led directly to the accusations that he was a tyrannical dictator, which led to his assassination, which Spielberg handles here in an unexpected and painful way that is far more effective than the way it's usually presented.
6. How is the music? As has been the case since Spielberg's first feature film, Sugarland Express, in 1974, John Williams has provided the music for Lincoln, and a beautiful job he does. The key note here, as with the entire film, is restraint. Many scenes are played with no music at all, allowing the actors to carry the emotions. In a number of scenes where one would expect to find a full orchestra swelling behind the acting, there is instead a single instrument playing, sometimes piano, other times banjo or trumpet or violin. Other passages get the usual film score treatment, but only when it's warranted. Being a period piece, there are no hit pop songs playing over the end credits to pad out the soundtrack album.
7. Why should I go see a movie when I know how it comes out in the end? Spoiler alert: The 13th Amendment gets passed, slavery is abolished, the Civil War ends with the South surrendering, and Abraham Lincoln gets assassinated. If you didn't already know that, you probably wouldn't want to see this movie anyway, and you'd most likely sit there with glazed-over eyes, saying "wha huh? what did he say? What does 'disenthrall' mean, anyway?" This is not a film for the Honey Boo-Boo demographic, it's a movie for grownups and interested attentive kids. As such, the point of the film is not a surprise twist or unexpected event; it's watching how the things we know about happened; which Representatives changed their votes and why, how the President handles his grief over his son's death, what Mary Todd Lincoln thinks of the Washington DC insiders and how a plain-spoken prairie woman from Illinois can carve out a place for herself there. It's about people trying to do what's right or defend things they know are wrong. It's the story.
8. Is it accurate? It is meticulously researched; whether it's "accurate" or not depends in large part on your feelings about the Civil War and the tall guy in the stovepipe hat. The film is based on a scholarly work, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, but naturally there is some room for argument and interpretation of motives and implications. It's not a "fictionalized biography" with events invented wholesale in order to glamorize the subject or gloss over flaws; Abe Lincoln is presented here as a flawed man who occasionally flaunts his power and makes unreasonable demands, argues bitterly with his wife and has a strained relationship with his firstborn son. The other prominent characters are similarly nuanced; James Spader's Mr. Bilbo is vulgar and ill-mannered, but it's clear he also believes in the cause of abolition and isn't in it for the money the way later generations of lobbyists will be.
9. When is the best time to take a bathroom break? You may need one, as the film clocks in at around two and a half hours. There isn't really an ideal time to run to the restroom, as vital information is sprinkled throughout the film. Your best bet is to go whenever a Tommy Lee Jones scene has just ended, because you don't want to miss a second of his strident, vitriolic evisceration of his political opponents. All those sharp-tongued guys he's played over the years, from Two-Face to The Fugitive to Men in Black, were just warm-ups for his Thaddeus Stevens. He owns every scene he's in (except when Mrs. Lincoln shuts him up) and he's a joy to watch, and you'll probably end up quoting some of his better insults.
10. Do I need to stay after the credits? No, there is no special added scene at the end. It's not that kind of movie. What you do need to do is sit there in respectful silence, reading the names and acknowledging the incredible work you've just seen. A lot of people worked really hard to make this beautiful film, and you can afford to take a couple of minutes to give them their due. Besides, you'll want to remember those names come Oscar time. The studio is going to need a shopping cart for them.
