Killing Lincoln

[jonathan]

(02-09-2013 07:24 PM)MaddieM Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 08:07 PM)Josh M Wrote:  Anyways I would be interested to hear people's thoughts on the topic of how opinions and disparate historical records factor in, specifically in the context of portraying them on film where you must make specific, singular choices (as opposed to a book where one can leave it as an exercise to the reader's imagination to deconflict).

I'm always a bit wary of history as portrayed in film. It's often twisted, manipulated, glamourised or sexed up, and seems to be what movie makers think the viewers want to see, rather than just being honest...or perhaps it's about number crunching. So it's really refreshing when you get to see something that gives you a 'warts and all' perspective and keeps to the truth. I don't there's any movie on earth that can have the same impact as one's own imagination when reading the pages of a book.

I feel like the problem is often an issue of laziness. Let's face it, the story of the Lincoln Assassination has plenty of excitement, plenty of things to hold the viewer's interest. It's a question of whether or not the filmmaker wants to invest the time and energy to do the job right. This is likely true of all historical events of any significance. As far as Hollywood is concerned, I imagine it's easier for them to just throw in a bunch of that boilerplate garbage because that's what they know best and they think that's the only way to make money. And the real story be damned. I understand that some amount of artistic license is virtually impossible to avoid, and I have no problem with that. But there is a line that is crossed too often I imagine, and in those cases the truth becomes buried and we all lose. I'm very happy to know that the people involved in this project were so concerned with getting it right, and I am reeeeeally looking forward to seeing it. I'm planning to post a couple of links on my Facebook for anybody there who might enjoy it. I don't want to do it too early, because I want people to be able to click the links and see that it's on in the next day or two, modern day attention spans being what they are. Picked up a copy of Anthony Pitch's They Have Killed Papa Dead, which I enjoyed thoroughly the first time I read it, and I'll go ahead and read it again this week so I'll be primed for Sunday night. Also, I saw my first Killing Lincoln commercial just a little while ago, on ESPN2 no less.