Movie Review: Lincoln is Perfect

By Marivir R. Montebon

Things which are equal to the same thing are also equal to one another - Euclid

Euclid must have profoundly influenced Pres. Abraham Lincoln, and director Steven Spielberg did an outstanding piece of worksmanship in creating the film Lincoln.

Pres. Lincoln was flawlessly portrayed by actor Daniel Day-Lewis as a man of vision and extraordinary resolve.  Lincoln is sure to become a timeless monumental film. Hence today, Lincoln is a must see.  It imparts the message of true, brave, and visionary leadership which Lincoln was.

The film also showed the 16th president's human side, he being an amazing story teller, a doting father, a torn husband, and a believer of the meaning of dreams.

Lincoln opens with the dream of First Lady Mary Todd, who saw her husband on a ship mooring towards an unknown harbor. She later interpreted her dream as the successful passage of the 13th amendment to the Constitution which sought to abolish slavery in the US.

After that, the scene unfolds the last tumultuous months of President Lincoln which sent the audience to a roller coaster of emotions, enthralled, amused, disturbed, sympathetic.

From the film, we learn that Pres. Lincoln was profoundly influenced by the great mathematician Euclid whom he quoted in fascination in an anecdote he told the young radio transmitters to explain his passion for abolishing slavery (the 13th Amendment). "Things which are equal to the same thing are also equal to one another," Lincoln said in reference to Euclid.

The film is highlighted by the voting of this Amendment.  To describe it as thrilling would be lame. It was breath taking. The final day of voting was to be the greatest moment of the lives of Democrats and Republicans, because the individual decision cuts through the very core of their essence as persons and leaders.  It took each one of them incredible courage and guts to say nay or yey to the amendment, and each response took everyone's breath away.

The road to the 13th Amendment was paved by the unbending resolve on the part of Pres. Lincoln and by the genius of his State Secretary William Henry Seward's choreography to lobby for the votes of the Democrats. The latter provided jest in the film as it progressed, and also a real insight of how indispensable underground maneuvers (quid pro quo) via the White House are.

Lincoln is perfectly crafted, in terms of cinematography, music, and costumes. Its characters get their voices from an impeccable script, making it truly reflected of the challenging times of the Civil War in the 1860s.

Lincoln is one of the perfect films ever created. Its relevance, inspiration, and artistry would make one love to watch it over and over again.