“Lincoln,” February1, 2013 (2012), theater. Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s dramatization of the passage of the 13th Amendment. Daniel Day Lewis is profoundly patient/impatient, moderate/progressive, pragmatic/idealistic and accommodating/strong-willed as Abe, while Tommy Lee Jones (Thaddeus Stephens), Sally Field (Mary Todd Lincoln), James Spader (Theodore Bilbo) have a grand time with their roles and David Straitharn (Edwin Stanton) plays it low key. I enjoyed the film that, among historians of the left, has caused some concern over the lack of abolitionist presence (I guess embodied by Stephens the Radical Republican) and the failure to look at slavery’s ongoing wartime collapse in the south (hinted at but not made clear by the number of black troops shown). In all, I find this a good film for what it does: it makes the mess of legislation and the constitution into a human document composed by men who (sometimes) seek the good even if they have to be encouraged to compromise to achieve it. It overplays Lincoln’s status as ‘beloved’ president as he was loathed and detested by millions. It doesn’t shirk from acknowledging Northern racism. Some moving secondary characters: Mary Lincoln’s seamstress and companion and the Congressman from Missouri who is turned to the light by Lincoln himself. Not all make the journey. Even the angels of our better nature are flawed in this film, but it is really worth seeing and on the big screen if possible. The presence of black troops who articulate a powerful sense of racial pride and determination is a forceful message about their role and the illusion of brotherly quarrels and a chivalrous south. In some ways, I feel my left cliocomrades are working too hard to find major flaws.