Spielberg's Lincoln

[My Name Is Kate]

I saw the Lincoln movie last night. I thought the acting was superb, but I got lost in all the politics. I hadn't read any reviews of the movie except a little of what various people have said on this forum. I didn't expect the movie to portray such a limited segment of Lincoln's life. I didn't know who some of the main characters were until well into the movie, and some I had to read up on after the movie to find out their historical significance. I still don't know who some of them were (for example, who was the overweight guy who looked like Ted Kennedy?)

I guess I'm revealing (some more of) my ignorance here, but I wouldn't really recommend the movie to the average person without first doing a little historical research on who some of the characters in the movie are. But I was impressed with Lincoln as a person, and I was left wondering how in the world did he manage to hold together through four years of a horrific war, a not-so-good marriage, deaths in the family, hundreds of thousands of deaths that must have been weighing on his conscience, political and moral decisions he had to make without knowing if they were the right ones, etc., etc.

I'm glad they left out the assassination itself because Booth would have loved to see himself portrayed on the big screen. Like others have mentioned, I also didn't care much for the scene at the beginning with Lincoln and the soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address. And I didn't like the scene where Lincoln slaps Robert.