Lincoln

Steven Spielberg’s film covers the weeks leading to the House vote on the Thirteenth Amendment. Tony Kushner’s first draft ran about 500 pages and covered Lincoln’s last four months; the shooting script narrows to a single vote. Liam Neeson prepared for the part for years, then asked Spielberg to recast him after a table read, saying he had passed his sell-by date. The most surprising choice is the voice. Daniel Day-Lewis drops the usual booming baritone for a thin, nasal register. The historian Harold Holzer finds it close to what people who heard Lincoln described. In the closing roll call, two of Connecticut’s three representatives vote no. The Congressional Record of 31 January 1865 shows all four of the state’s members voting yes. Representative Joe Courtney wrote to Spielberg about it; Kushner said he had made the change on purpose, to show how narrowly the amendment passed. The film won two Oscars: Day-Lewis for actor, Rick Carter and Jim Erickson for production design. Spielberg was nominated for directing but lost. A good fit if you want a clause counted vote by vote and bargained for with congressmen nobody now remembers. Not for anyone expecting the front: the camera barely leaves the closed rooms and the war stays outside the door.