"Now, He belongs to the ages..."

“Now he belongs to the ages…”




Famous words which were uttered on the morning of April 15,1865 by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, in a small bedroom in a house across the street from Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. The nation had lost Abraham Lincoln to an assassin’s bullet just days after the end of the tragic United States Civil War.

Hollywood has long used any high-profile tragedy, loss, scandal and corruption to further its box office appeal to the masses, and with the assassination of one of the most beloved American presidents, they have, for the most part, given justice to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. Let’s take a break from focusing on tax deadlines today and look at a few Lincoln films.

“Abraham Lincoln” 1930, starring Walter Huston along with 1940’s “Abraham Lincoln in Illinois” starring Raymond Massey both have strong leads and pay an honest tribute to young Abe and his journey from simple country boy to his aspirations for political advancement. Both actors tend to be a little older than Abe should have been at the time and much more stoic than we are accustomed to wanting to see “young” Abe.

“Young Mr. Lincoln” 1939, starring Henry Fonda is an engaging film that’s part biography and part fiction, but a good tale nonetheless. It centers around young Abe as he embarks upon his law career and takes on a murder case for the first time. Fonda gives a great performance and helps to remind us that Lincoln did start out as a young lawyer with lean years before advancing to Washington.

　

Lets fast forward to 2012 and Steven Spielberg’s “LINCOLN”, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the man himself. Very rarely have I ever found myself so convinced with an actor’s portrayal of a character that I start to believe this is truly the character and not an actor, but Day-Lewis was able to inhabit the role of Lincoln.

Many have criticized his manner of method acting, myself included, but this time it seems to have paid off. Not in awards and recognition, but in the way we as Americans have wanted to be able to see and hear this great man. This great man that we have done countless school reports on and taken field trips to Washington D.C. to stand at the tips of his boots as he sits upon his massive chair with his steel gaze affixed on the Capitol.

His voice was not what we expected, although we have always heard it was of a high and nasal timber. His humor was there and his unending compassion and judicious balance in manners of state and family. One can only hope that if Lincoln himself were to have viewed this latest version of himself, he probably would comment on how the actor had to summon all his metal to portray such a simple man of simple beginnings with only a simple plan in life…to do what any man would do.

The right thing.






That’s a wrap!





　
-Hollie Wood