Lincoln Movie Analysis

The film Lincoln, produced by Steven Spielberg and released in 2012, stars Daniel Day-Lewis as President Lincoln. Written by Tony Kushner, the film was inspired by Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Set in 1865 the movie focuses on President Lincoln’s struggle to get the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed through the House of Representatives, all while facing challenges presented by the American Civil War. Lincoln won two Oscars and 108 other awards, with a total of 242 nominations. The film was a success, achieving an overall score of 86/100 (“Lincoln”). The film successfully portrays various qualities of the U.S. Government and reveals the lack of bipartisanship and the necessity and methods to whip votes that are present in the U.S. Government through history and also today. After successfully achieving re-election, President Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) is working to reach an end to a
In the film, while the Amendment is being discussed and voted on in the House of Representatives, the representatives often directly address each other. Throughout history and still today, representatives are not allowed to address each other directly. Instead, they must communicate to each other through the Speaker of the House (“Procedures of the United”). Another inaccuracy is that Lincoln mostly likely never talked to the “political fixers”, especially not about bribes (“Thirteenth Amendment”). The film shows Lincoln walking into the room where the people getting him votes are working. He discusses various methods that could be used to obtain more support for the Amendment. Historically, Lincoln’s role in getting the votes remains unknown, but it is unlikely that he engaged in the discussions himself in order to distance himself from any potentially unethical tactics used (“Thirteenth