Lincoln

While any story of Lincoln is a story about the Civil War, this is more about the 13th amendment abolishing slavery and the political machinations that surrounded its passage. It was not part of my awareness that the amendment passage was so tied to the negotiations to end the war. What I will remember about the process, even though it was not a highlight of the film, is that the continuation or cessation of the war was extremely political and extremely ideological. So even though Lincoln/Seward manipulated peace negotiations to achieve a political goal, it turns out that even when the constitutional abolition of slavery was irreversible,  it still took several months and thousands more lives before the Confederates would surrender. Perhaps the fact that abolition was constitutionally guaranteed by the political process led to a reenergized southern leadership to fight for an ideological win. And there was just enough imagery of war shown to really remember that this was the most brutal of wars. This was not an exciting or even entertaining film. But it was good to see.

3 stars (out of 5)