Lincoln

 
For almost twenty years, Steven Spielberg tried to bring the life of Abraham Lincoln on the big screen; now, he has succeeded with his sprawling two and a half hour depiction of the last three months of Lincoln's presidency. The first shots of the film are a montage of soldiers being bayoneted and pummeled into the muddy ground as the Civil War is at its peak in January of 1865. However, do not expect a drawn-out battle sequence as in Saving Private Ryan as Spielberg focuses on the nation's divide and bitterness towards Lincoln (Daniel-Day Lewis) as he tries to pass the 13th Amendment, which would abolish slavery. While not sitting with his staff trying to get the pro-slavery Democrats trying to side with him, Lincoln is trying to be a dutiful father and husband to his two surviving sons and his wife, Mary Todd (Sally Field) as she is still in shock over the death of their son, William.

Spielberg reunites with Pulitzer-playwright, Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Munich), as his prose is as eloquent as the history he compresses into his screenplay, which is thanks to the research done by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Think of it as The West Wing set in the 19th Century. Spielberg also reunites with cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, as his use of shadows and piercing light reflect the period of time as well as act as a metaphor to the divide Lincoln stands between the Union and Confederacy. In addition to the screenplay and cinematography, John Williams' score (minimal compared to his past work) is stripped down and subtle in contrast to the boisterous activity thriving on Capitol Hill throughout the film.  

Lincoln has been portrayed in the past by such leading men as Henry Fonda and Hal Holbrook (who gives a great performance as Preston Blair), yet it is Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of the 16th President that stands out as the best. One score and seven years ago, Day-Lewis graced the screen with a canon of roles that cement him as the best actor since Jack Nicholson; from Christy Brown in My Left Foot to Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. His tenor voice and physical transformation into Abraham Lincoln is amazing as it is audacious.

Next to Day-Lewis, Sally Field shines as Mary Todd Lincoln as she veers in and out of her sanity when she is behind closed doors or anxiously observing the divided members of Congress. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a solid performance as Robert Lincoln, who is portrayed in the film as a historical Biff Lohman; stubborn and rebellious by going against his father's ambitions. Tommy Lee Jones is sensational as Thaddeus Stevens as he gives a tongue-lashing to Congress with such glee and gusto over the passing of the 13th Amendment.

Although Lincoln is not Steven Spielberg's greatest work, it is a visually descriptive look at American politics and humanity as was his 1997 film, Amistad. The story of Lincoln's life is well known, but it is the journey of seeing him at the peak of his presidency and his life depicted by Day-Lewis that makes Lincoln a memorable film.

Three out of Four Stars

Django Unchained

If Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah had a baby, they would have named it Quentin Tarantino. Django Unchained is Tarantino's latest film that pays homage to the western genre with copious amounts of blood and humor that would even make John Wayne shiver in his grave. After being rescued by a gun-wielding dentist/bounty hunter named Dr. King (Christoph Waltz), Django (Jamie Foxx) seeks vengeance against the sadistic plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who bought his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) by searching high and low over the Confederate South. Along the way, Django and King go from plantation to plantation building up their bounty and the body count of sheet-wearing horsemen who step in their way.

After a succession of hit and miss films, such as the Kill Bill movies and Death Proof, Tarantino closed out the last decade with the successful Inglourious Basterds and has now raised the blood-soaked bar with Django Unchained. The gun-toting action amidst the sprawling landscape mirror that of the red shades of Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western films of the Sixties. Tarantino's wide-eyed look at the Pre-Confederate South is complimented with Robert Richardson's lighting showing that he is no stranger to the wild work of Tarantino and Oliver Stone.

Jamie Foxx is amazing as Django by undergoing the transformation from a slave to a redeemer with a six-shooter. Christoph Waltz is unforgettable as the flamboyantly verbose Dr. King as he takes Django under his wing and grooms him into "the finest shot in the south." Leonardo DiCaprio is wickedly charming and sadistic as Candie giving a villainous performance that would make his mentor, Martin Scorsese, grin like a Cheshire cat. Samuel L. Jackson rounds off the stellar cast as Candie's house slave, Steven, whose baritone voice and utterance of every f-word is like Olivier reciting Shakespeare.  

As the year winds down, Django Unchained stands as one of the best films of the year, if not one of Tarantino's finest achievements as a filmmaker. Despite the controversy he has been getting by the peanut gallery, it is overshadowed by bringing the western genre to a new generation of film-goers mixed with an eclectic soundtrack ranging from Ennio Morricone, Jim Croce, and Rick Ross. It may not be as groundbreaking as Pulp Fiction, but it's no matter as Django Unchained rings in the new year with a bang.            

Four out of Four Stars

Cinema After Newtown

On Friday, December 14th, tragedy struck the small town of Newtown,CT when 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, including the gunman who took his own life afterwards. I didn't hear the news until after I walked home from substitute teaching at Merrimack Valley High School. As someone who works in the education field, I was shocked and saddened by the news. No words can ease the pain to the families of those who have suffered a great loss.

In the wake of the Newtown tragedy, film premieres of Jack Reacher and Django Unchained were pushed back out of respect for the events that occurred a week ago. Last night, Dr. Chuck Williams of the University of Pennsylvania went on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News program stating that "After what happened on Friday, everybody has to look at what part thay have to play in creating this culture of violence." He continues by  citing the research of Albert Bandura and his "Bobo doll" experiement in which children mimicked the behavior they witnessed on television by hitting an inflatable doll and how today's films show gratuitous violence for the sake of being violent.

The knee-jerk reactions are not uncommon in the wake of such tragedies. Consider the release of Oliver Stone's 1994 film, "Natural Born Killers", which was based on Quentin Tarantino's screenplay; the satire on the supersaturation of mass-media was put on the witness stand by John Grisham and Patsy Byers after a couple of kids allegedly took LSD, watched "Natural Born Killers", and murdered William Savage, a cotton gin manager from Hernando, Mississippi. Warner Bros. and Oliver Stone were sued for being culpable of inciting mass-violence by releasing the film. The case was eventually thrown out in March of 2001.

The same knee-jerk reactions came after the release of Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film, "A Clockwork Orange." In 2010, I wrote a research paper for the Eastern Communication Association on the film and pointed out the reactionary measures and rhetoric taken by those persecuting indivuduals for committing violent acts based on the film:

In Vincent LoBrutto’s biography of Stanley Kubrick, the link to the film and violence caused Judge Desmond Baily, who presided over convicting a sixteen year old boy of beating a homeless person to death, stated that “‘We must stamp out this horrible trend of which had been inspired by this wretched film. We appreciate that what you did was inspired by the wicked film, but that does not mean that you are blameworthy’” (LoBrutto 368). When has a judge ever mentioned that they appreciated the actions of one person who killed someone based on a film or a piece of music? In essence, Judge Baily’s words were part of a witch hunt over films that shied away from the traditional merits of cinema by making a subversive film, not the person who committed acts of violence, a menace to society. (Stewart, 26)

It is common for analysts and pundits to point the finger at music, video games, and film as the enablers of violent behavior. However, the expression of violence in the aforementioned mediums comes from holding up a mirror to society and acts as a catharsis to the artists expressing the flaws of society. In conclusion, those guilty of their crimes should be punished for their acts, not the artists who have no control over how their work is perceived by one out of a million people.