Lincoln movie battle cry of freedom series#

Answer Cut: Lincoln goes to negotiate with the rebel commissioners after some persuasion by General Grant.

Anachronism Stew: This film uses phrases that didn't exist back then, Justified because modern audiences wouldn't understand 19th century upper-crust (or worse yet: slang) American English.

Bill Raymond, who was in his 70s, plays House Speaker Schuyler Colfax, who was only 41 when the 13th Amendment was passed.

The real Pendleton was just shy of 40 at the time the film took place.

Pendleton was played by Peter McRobbie, who was in his late 60s. Thankfully the make-up makes him look older than her.

Age Lift: Sally Field is 9 years older than Day-Lewis, the reverse of Lincoln's difference to Mary.

Actor Allusion: Lincoln and Mary Todd go to the opera to see Gounod's Faust, the same opera featured at the start of The Age of Innocence (which also starred Daniel Day-Lewis) set 10 years later in the 1870s.

Action Prologue: The film opens violently with the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry.

The film was given a limited release on Novembefore opening wide on the 16th and becoming a robust box office hit for a historical political drama. Meanwhile, Lincoln also has to deal with his family issues, particularly his son Robert's demands to enlist over his wife Mary's vehement objections.

Lincoln movie battle cry of freedom series#

This sets the stage for a series of behind the scenes maneuvers to sway certain Congressmen to break from their party and vote for the Amendment. Throwing complete support behind either side risks the Amendment not getting passed at all, and even with the support of his own party, Lincoln still needs some Democratic support to pass the amendment as well. The Radical Republicans led by Representative Thaddeus Stevens demand a strong bill to be passed at all costs, while the more conservative party members led by the Blair family want to hold off until they can try one more chance at negotiating peace with the rebellious South.

This is much harder than it sounds, due to the many political divisions not just in the North (to say nothing of the country) at the time, but also in Lincoln's own party. Set during the last four months of President Abraham Lincoln's life, the film's main focus is on his guiding of the political forces in America to end the Civil War and pass the 13th Amendment, thereby abolishing slavery. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln, Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as their son Robert and has a supporting cast that includes Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Jared Harris and Jackie Earle Haley. Lincoln is a historical retelling of the 16th President of the United States's attempts to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner, based on the acclaimed biography Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.