MD - Lincoln

As a narrative on the political and democratic process Lincoln is, despite its plaudits, strangely lacking. Obviously slavery was abhorrent but its proponents were represented so one-dimensionally there was never a sense of why they held the views they did other than simplistically linking them to the Civil War. There was one line in the movie about rebalancing labour costs and the potential financial impact on the South from the wealthier more competitive North - which has interesting contemporaneous relevance - but Spielberg bottles any investigation of this to give us yah-boo villains.  

Added to the mix was the overpowering presence of the granite faced Lincoln whose incessant allegories and wisdoms became grating and further loaded the one-sided approach to the story.  Of course he was the heart of everything but as masterful as the depiction was it flirted all to often with caricature in the context of the other participants. 

The cast were universally adept but the direction stilted. Spielberg’s all to evident attempt at earnest sapped any potential joy out of the process.

5/10