As the War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves. Daniel-Day Lewis does indeed give a really good perfomance as President Lincoln and the make up is pretty spot on on capturing the likeness of the famous USA President. Unfortunately the film drags alot and the pacing was a pain in my eyes, this film was 150 minutes and despite the great cast and good perfomances the pacing did threw me off from the film. Steven Spielberg's direction is of course brilliant as always but it's still not good enough for me to give this film a fair and share pass. (5/10)

The film "Lincoln" brings us back to a defining moment in the American history, namely the pass of the Thirteenth Amendment; and tells about the last four months' life of Abraham Lincoln, one of the most beloved American president. It is definitely one of the best historical drama ever, thanks to its brilliant screenplay, original score, acting performances, costume, production design, hair/makeup, and cinematography. The several monologues and speeches delivered by Daniel Day-Lewis is among the finest moments of his splendid acting career. Adam Driver, who was unknown at the time of shooting, plays a minor role in the film, which is sort of interesting. All in all, this is a must-see film for every American.

Firstly, I'd like to say that the film is not centered around Lincoln's life, as I expected, but more on him and his administration's role in the passing of the 13th amendment. Which doesn't necessarily make it bad! It just caught me off guard. I really did enjoy this film, even though it is not really along the lines of movies that I usually watch. Apart from great content to work from, I thought this movie did a very good job connecting the audience to the characters. It's also very difficult to build the suspense needed in a drama film when the audience already knows what happened in history, and I think the team behind this film did do that very well. I also really enjoyed how they presented the duality of the amendment at every level - for instance, how the Lincolns were divided on the passage of the bill, but presented a united front. This was mimicked in the cabinet and in the house. It shows a more nuanced view of an issue that is usually portrayed as one-sided, whole-heartedly and unitedly supported by the North. Although I sincerely hope that our government actually functions more cohesively than they are portrayed here, this film does create a good sense of the disunity among Republicans and ardent opposition by the Democrats in Congress. One critique that I would really like to focus on (and this is a more personal preference than anything) is that this movie focuses Lincoln the ideal more than Lincoln the man. With few exceptions, this film depicted Lincoln as poised, rational, and morally just at all times. There was no mention of his infamous letter to Horace Greeley in which he claimed, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it." It also sort of shows Abraham Lincoln as some sort of mighty rock that stood his ground alone against the masses that called for peace at the price of abolition. While this is true to a degree, this movie doesn't really give credit to the century of foundation that abolitionists had already laid for Lincoln to stand and succeed on. Even the few scenes in which Lincoln loses control of his emotions, it is excused as reasonable and unavoidable. This is a pretty typical thing - we tend to portray Lincoln as an epitome of virtue. At the same time, I understand that in a film, character and effect is often more important than strict historical accuracy.

The film is about the 13th amendment, that is clear, despite the fact that in the trailer we are shown outside scenes, combat scenes, they are not what you will be mostly seeing here. It would be better translated as "the backstage for the 13th amendment", because we see how people are convinced to accept it.Now, something that disturbs me is one of the top reviews (and controversial), even though I believe he is right at some points, such as in the "no sense of space", he truly believed that this film was about Lincoln's life, he was under the impression that he was probably going to see a biographical film, his infancy, his time at the army, probably the years and years he tried to get elected. Nothing explains his misinterpretation of the film for his score, he probably read "Lincoln" and thought "oh this is a film about Lincoln's life", when his expectations were not fulfilled he demolished the film with his review, I don't think a generalised title such as "Lincoln" should make you believing that you would be seeing all about his life, it would be the same as being annoyed when you watch "The Neverending Story" and the film ends, but isn't it "neverending"?