Finally, an honest Abe

New York Post ^ | Nov. 25, 2012 | Harold Holzer

[T Ruth]

Director Steven Spielberg, whom I introduced last week [in 2012] at Gettysburg at ceremonies marking the 149th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest speech, said he was deeply humbled to be delivering an address on that history-making spot.

***

… Daniel Day-Lewis gives the definitive portrayal of our time, perhaps ever, of Honest Abe.

For people like me, who have spent their lives studying Abraham Lincoln, the film is chilling — as if he’s really come to life.

Day-Lewis does it by avoiding the traps most Lincoln actors fall into, the stoic, “Hall of Presidents”-esque stereotype that probably most Americans imagine.

There are no moving pictures of Lincoln, no recordings of his voice. But after his death, everyone was Lincoln’s best friend, and there are descriptions of everything from his accent to his gait.

The most important thing is the voice. Far from having a stentorian, Gregory Peck-like bass, Lincoln’s was a high, piercing tenor. Those who attended his speeches even described it as shrill and unpleasant for the first 10 minutes, until he got warmed up (or his endless stories managed to cow them into submission).

***

Few great people are appreciated in their time. And it’s good to remember that, no matter how right the decisions seem now, they were hard-fought then.

“I wanted — impossibly — to bring Lincoln back from his sleep of one-and-a-half centuries,” Steven Spielberg said at Gettysburg, “even if only for two-and-one-half hours, and even if only in a cinematic dream.”

***

Harold Holzer is one of the country’s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln. ...

[At the end of the article Holzer gives thumbnail reviews of all prior Lincoln films, ranking them from worst to best, which Holzer considers to be Spielberg’s.]

[DiogenesLamp]

And this is why I don’t read your long messages anymore.

[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "And this is why I don’t read your long messages anymore."

It's because your brain is not wired to deal with facts & logic, only with your own lunatic Lost Cause narratives.

Faced with real facts and honest logic, all you can do is skedaddle for the hills, all the while hollering: "I won, I won, I won!!"

[DiogenesLamp]

Your example of "facts and logic"?

[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "Your example of "facts and logic"?"

The fact is that you cannot deal with any facts & logic (real or alleged) if you disagree with them.

What you can do, we see here -- handwave them away, then declare yourself "winner" who "whipped" something.

In reality, you "whipped" nothing ever, only keep repeating the lost cause narrative that's now fried into your brain.