Pondering life’s complexities (2)

I saw Lincoln on Sunday night, and with muddled head wrote about it Monday morning. I committed the cardinal sin of op-edding, failure to stay on message. I do that a lot, but with that movie, I want to give it a second shot.

We finally saw the movie Lincoln last night. I feared that the man would receive a royal Spielberging, or be drowned in excess sentimentality. There is some of that at the beginning and scattered about, but it’s an excellent film. Spielberg has embraced complexity – the use of evil means to achieve good ends. Sometimes that works.

It is difficult to get anything done in politics without duplicity. That’s why lying is a tool of the trade, and not an ignoble one. According to the movie, Lincoln did the right thing for the right reasons and by the wrong means. We can debate that sort of thing afterward, but Lincoln did not have the luxury of a Department of Philosophy and Ethics. He had to get things done amidst swells of turmoil, suffering and feverish emotions, and maintain a steady hand.

If Gore Vidal is right, Lincoln had strong sense of purpose and resignation to his fate. Film is not a medium for complexities. There are no “true stories,” but truth can be packaged in myth and yet still reach us intact. For example, racial prejudice was as common in the north as the south in those times as now, and soldiers giving up their lives were not inclined to do so for mere slaves. That’s another movie. Spielberg decided to focus the story on the mechanics of getting Thirteenth Amendment passed. Lincoln, the face on Rushmore, could not do that, but Lincoln the arm twister, street fighter, mesmerizer, wit and strategist, could.

As an exhibition of movie-making skills, Lincoln is second to none. The film is a major cinematic achievement. Where did Lincoln miss a mark that Argo hit? Both films used CGI, but I was not aware of it in Lincoln. Daniel Day Lewis played Lincoln, but I was not aware of Daniel Day Lewis. (In Argo, I imagined Daredevil trailing behind JLo on the streets of Tehran.) The script of Lincoln was nuanced and fine-tuned to allow actors to ply their trade. Argo was ham-handed and manipulative. Props, lighting, facial hair, manners of speech were all done to advance the story of Lincoln without distraction. Argo had clips at the end showing us what they had done. What pabulum!

I place Lincoln near the top of a short list of films that entered my consciousness, took ownership, and seamlessly guided me through a complex story. We all have our lists, and I have another one too: “What were they thinking?” On it are movies like The English Patient, Crash, and Argo.