Fourscore and 3 nights ago, I saw a historical movie with my mom as a late birthday gift to her. When I first heard we were seeing the popular historical movie Lincoln, I was excited, based only on the fact that the popular character actor Daniel Day-Lewis was playing Lincoln. The movie starts off with President Lincoln having a friendly conversation with two African American Union soldiers. The first scene sets the tone of the whole movie, presenting the audience with the inspirational message the movie brings.

The movie portrays the struggle President Lincoln faces as he is torn between officially ending the Civil War and getting his amendment passed to abolish slavery. The movie goes through the entire sequence of events of when the amendment is finally passed and the war is finally over. The movie also touches on Lincoln’s personal life, including his exhausting relationship with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) and his distant relationship with his son.

The movie ends tragically but at the same time ends with an uplifting feel as Lincoln’s stimulating words of his Second Inaugural Speech are echoed throughout the theatre. The only thing I would’ve liked to see more of was more clarification of political processes.  Day-Lewis and Field have been the center of the recent Oscar buzz, both receiving positive critics on their brilliant portrayals of Abe Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Day-Lewis depicted Lincoln right down to his very walk and stature. Day-Lewis never lost character once during the entire film. A producer of the film, Kathleen Kennedy, even quoted that “it felt that “Lincoln was sitting there right in front of you”. Thus, for someone who had only known very little facts about one of the most famous American presidents, I left the theatre with an understanding of what he was like and what he did for this country.