Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln"

                    For those looking to experience a movie that has all the visual quality of the best Civil War films and the charming character-driven plot of the best historical drama, check it out.  Daniel Day-Lewis's story-telling as the chatty Lincoln has a Brando-like quality:  you cant take your eyes off him (and neither can Lincoln's male helpers with whom he has several intimate moments.)
                  Of course the best kept secret of the film (and of the American history of Reconstruction) is Thaddeus Stevens--the powerful Pennsylvania Radical Republican--who has the precise amount of acid and scorn for the House's yokels, cynics, and hucksters.  If few contemporary educated and conscientious voters have an outlet to spout rage at the moronic inferno blazing in Michele Bachmann's district or at a Rand Paul stump speech, Stevens seems to act as a delightful proxy for us--albeit in the 19th century.  He lays waste to 'em!  Tommy Lee Jones, as ever, is masterfully patient in a stern and focused portrayal that could have been ruined by bluster.
                  My only issue is a historical one:  Where was Anderew Johnson, Lincoln's Vice President who, after inheriting the presidency, became our worst President?  Wasn't he, impeached and disgraced, worth seeing since he is the darkest decision in Lincoln's legacy?  And while I thought the dreamy sequences that illustrate Lincon's nightmares were haunting and unexpected, seeing Lincoln's face in a flame with a flashback to his second inaugural (after his assassination scene) was a bit much.  But Spielberg never can give up on the happy endings, can he?
                  The critic for The New Republic made a crucial argument for those who enjoyed this movie:
"That is the real lesson for now, in these few days. Being a nobleman or a saint is not enough in a leader. We need someone who can stoop to getting the job done, and wheedling the necessary votes in any way it takes. Lincoln the movie may look archaic and nostalgic in time—even in quite a short time. But for a few days or weeks now, it is the moment in a way few modern movies have managed. It’s very good, but that’s not the point. It’s necessary. Make sure your children take you to see it."
                  Of course, the 13th amendment passed and the movie does a strong job of illustrating the art of the bribe and the suspense of high-pressure negotiations.  But it also neglects the century blacks had to wait in order to gain political equality.  And it neglects to confront (rather than merely reflect) the dysfunctional and outmoded institutions that can allow such grievous injustices to be perpetuated.  While I would recommend this film to anyone, what our culture needs after Lincoln, a soothing movie about political healing, is a film about Reconstruction:  The moment when the best hopes of federal action were dashed by conservative "small government" types; when bought senators and paid representatives knowingly subsidized private industry; when black rights were buried under the flummery of "states rights"; when Lincoln's notion of a government by, for, and of the people disappeared for a generation into a Gilded Age.