"Lincoln"

Went and saw the Daniel-Day Lewis movie.

I was a bit bewildered by the introduction sequence, when two black soldiers alternated between recitation of the Gettysburg Address, and making bold appeals to Lincoln's more-forceful intervention on behalf of the slaves. So well-spoken and educated these soldiers were, when the reality was likely very, very different. Alas, it's Spielberg!

I liked Lincoln's Dream. Very evocative, with Abe standing on the prow of a ship racing into the howling darkness towards an imperceptible shore.

I liked the political minutiae. Illustrates just how little room the politicians had to maneuver in.

Worried about whether the abolitionist emphasis was correct. Somehow, I think the balance was wrong here.

Liked the acting.

Doing genealogy a few years ago, I discovered I was related to Pennsylvania Senator Richard Brodhead. I was hoping he'd show up in the movie, but he didn't. He was apparently a cipher in his own time, and has almost vanished from the pages of history. In Allan Nevin's eight-volume history of the Civil War, Brodhead appears fleetingly in just two paragraphs. The Senator from PENNSYLVANIA! How is that even possible? Even morons from that amazing age have books dedicated to their memory. Guess I'll have to write the cipher's biography myself.