My friend, Mike Ross, said several times as we left the movie yesterday evening, That Steven Spielberg sure knows how to make a movie. After we had a great Thanksgiving dinner prepared by my mom, he and I decided to go see the movie so many people are talking about.
He was not wrong in his assessment of the movie that will surely be one of the most nominated movies for Academy Awards this year. I would not be surprised to see it take home all the major categories as Daniel Day Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field gave extraordinary performances. I highly recommend it.
One of the things I particularly liked about it was one thing Mike told me as we were driving to the theater. He said Daniel Day Lewis told Steven Spielberg he would be happy to play Abraham Lincoln but he wanted Spielberg to wait a year so he could properly learn all he could about Lincoln right down to his limp so he could accurately portray our sixteenth president! Now THAT IS commitment! If I were put in that position, I wonder how I would have handled it? Would I have had the courage to tell Steven Spielberg to, Wait a year?
Regarding the historical perspective of the movie, President Lincoln was a very hated man by a large number of people, especially in the South where they had formed the Confederate States of America. Obviously, some people hated him, one to the point he assassinated him!
Today, we think of Abraham Lincoln as a very revered, and beloved American President. Many people rank him at or near the top of all our presidents. I find it interesting there are many people today who hate our current president the same way they hated Lincoln while he was in office. I would like to be able to look back in one hundred fifty years and see what historians have written about President Obama and what people feel about him after these next four years.
Our conversation went in many directions, as they always do; but he brought up a fact about the day no one has been talking about. November 22, 1963 mean anything to you?
We found it ironic how we had just watched a movie about a president who was assassinated on the forty-ninth anniversary of the assassination of another president.
I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
1 comment:
Saw it this week with my sister — LOVED it — outstanding performances! Should be an inspiration to our present day Statesmen and women. I will probably see it again this week — want to absorb all the speeches and conversations — need to brush up on my history knowledge of that era.
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