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May 15, 2013
Page II
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Profound
Heroism
JK ,
Lincoln: A very
different angle
on slavery
O pinionated
J udge
*
in Ji ix . i
I) mu 11 \
O rti ca
Daniel Day Lewis plays President Abraham Lincoln in the Spielberg movie ‘Lincoln. ’ (AP photo)
y list o f the best m ovies o f 2012
Y orkTim es). Nevertheless, form e, Spielberg's
includes tw o very differen t angles
"L incoln" is inspiring in its ow n way.
on A m erican slavery: "D jango
E v ery o n e seem s to agree that D aniel D ay-
U nchained," w hich I w rote about L fo ew
r is's
the perform ance is reason enough to see
P ortland O bserver on A pril 24, and in m y last
the film . N ot only does he render voice,
post (o p in io n ate d ju d g e.b lo g sp o t.c o m ), and
posture, and tone that closely tracks h isto ri­
"L incoln," w hich appeared on m y list at
cal accounts o f L incoln, but he captures the
num ber 4.
sense o f a person o f trem endous pow er and
O n the surface, "Lincoln" appears an odd
historical significance w ho is also so m e­
and even contradictory choice. It features
thing o f an enigm a.
w hite A m ericans alm ost exclusively and casts
L incoln is the president w ho held the
them , particularly the one o f them w ho served
nation to g eth er during a C ivil W ar and w ho
as president, as the protagonists in the story
presided o v er the abolition o f slavery -- yet
o f the end o f slavery in A m erica.
by m any accounts, he d oesn't ap p ear to have
I find som e m erit in the criticism that direc­
been m otivated co n sisten tly o r prim arily (or
tor S teven S pielberg and screenw riter Tony
at all) by a b elief in the eq u ality o f blacks.
K ushner m issed som e opportunities to shed
D ay -L ew is’s portrayal o f L incoln em b o d ­
light on the role that A frican A m ericans
ies those contradictions: H e is bold, yet
played in their ow n liberation. (S ee historian
keeps his ow n counsel; he is hopeful, yet
K ate M asur's op-ed from Dec. 4 in the N ew
deeply burdened. H is true m otives are in
M
som e w ays inscrutable. B ut this is m ore than
a pow erful perform ance. It is a depiction o f
heroism far m ore believable and profound
than we usually see.
M ost m ovie heroes, even those draw n
fro m h is to ry , are im p la u s ib ly u p rig h t,
u n s w e rv in g ly an d s im p lis tic a lly g o o d
against foes that are caricatures o f e v il. Think
C aptain A m erica, o r A ngelina Jolie's ch arac­
ter in "The C hangeling." Such depictions
oversim plify both heroism and its opposite,
so that w e attain heroism only by deluding
ourselves and we are n ev er responsible for
the need for heroes.
B ut in this film , the hero has feet o f clay,
and w e — that is, A m ericans w ith o ur attach ­
m ent to com m erce functioning as w e expect
-- create the need for heroism .
T he film depicts the passage o f the T h ir­
teenth A m endm ent as an ex ceed in g ly m essy
! J
•
♦ *
process, in w hich horrifyingly backw ard a r­
gum ents are m ade o n the C ongressional
floor and rath er seedy deals are struck in
sm oke-filled room s. W e know from history
that the A m endm ent w ill pass, bu t one is
tem pted to doubt the outcom e even w hile
w atching it unfold on screen.
M ore films should be m ade in which histori­
cally accurate stories o f A frican A m erican
heroism are the focus. But there is value to
seeing this particular piece o f history played
out on screen, especially w hen accom plished
with such nuance and com plexity.
All actual heroes have feet o f clay; true
heroism is not unadulterated goodness in
the face o f caricatured evil. R ather, true
heroism often is problem atic; it som etim es
inspires and repels in the sam e m om ent.
continued
on page 19