Lincoln dvd, 2012 Twentieth Century Fox 144 minutes £3
The consummate professionalism of Steven Spielberg is manifestly evident in this film.
It is not a full-blown biography of the American President, the focus is rather on a few weeks towards the end of the Civil War in what turned out to be the tumultuous last weeks of Lincoln’s life.
Despite his Emancipation Proclamation of the slaves in 1863, Lincoln saw that the Constitution of 1789 really needed to be amended in order for slavery to be made illegal.
The film concerns the protracted struggle of the President with his Republican colleagues to get the relevant 13th amendment to be passed by Congress while the Civil War was still waging.
It proved to be a campaign ultimately successful but only by buying the support of opponents in some crucial cases.
Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for his performance as Lincoln in this film.An engaging picture of American domestic politics of the 19th century against the background of civil war.