Abraham Lincoln Movie Essay

The most written about president in biography and in film is Abraham Lincoln. In turn, Steven Spielberg would produce and direct his interpretation of Lincoln via his film Lincoln (2012). The film would take a look at Lincoln’s later life and the struggle between him and his cabinet to find a way to pass the 13th amendment. This amendment said, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The viewer sees throughout the film that there is no uniformity in the Republican Party when it comes to the issue of passing the amendment. The movie main focal point becomes a battle between

Abraham is usually calm and collective with everyone except his family. Mary Todd Lincoln is crazy and admires Abraham in a sense that Abraham is godlike. For instance, there is a scene where Thaddeus Stevens and Mary Todd Lincoln interact. The viewer can see the animosity between them. Stevens brings up to Mary Todd, her spending of money on useless things such as plants for the White House. In response, Mary says that the White House needed such things and that history will remember her husband more than Thaddeus Stevens. Which is true the public does remember Lincoln more but Lincoln could not have accomplished what he set out to do without the support of Stevens. Lincoln, when one on one with Mary Todd, always says that he should have let her in the mad house. This same theme can be seen when Lincoln interacts with his oldest, Robert Lincoln. Like most young men at the time, Robert wanted to sign up for the Union Army. Abraham Lincoln is against this notion even slaps Robert when Robert says he will join even without his permission. This aggression towards his wife and his children can seem a little much or that Lincoln cares about his family very much. In the context of the film, these are just side stories to Lincoln's intention of getting the 13th amendment passed before the war is over. In a sense, everything else is nothing in comparison to Lincoln’s ambition of getting the amendment passed. The viewer hardly sees the character of Lincoln sleep until the passage of the amendment. In a sense, Lincoln only slept until he was