CINEMA FORUM ON AMERICAN CINEMA – ASPECTS TO CONSIDER WHILE VIEWING THE FILM FOR SUBSEQUENT DEBATE: LINCOLN
In one of the most acclaimed performances of his artistic career, Daniel Day-Lewis portrays President Abraham Lincoln in one of the most difficult political fights of his life. Early in the year 1865–and with the American Civil War drawing to a close–Lincoln uses every political machination in his power to get the 100th Amendment to the US Constitution passed and end slavery within the country. . The film received critical acclaim, especially for the performance of Day-Lewis, whose preparations to portray a figure as renowned as Lincoln included reading more than XNUMX books on the life and deeds of the XNUMXth American president for a year. whole (reportedly).
The film chronicles the last four months of Lincoln's life, beginning with his second term and detailing through conversations between Lincoln and members of his cabinet all the ideological perspectives that prevented both the unification of the country and the end of slavery. In 1863, Lincoln had proclaimed the emancipation of all slaves in the southern states, and he wanted to find a legal way to strengthen the principles defended in the “Emancipation Proclamation”. Furthermore, he wanted to ensure that all slaves who found freedom during the war and as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation did not return to slavery. With that in mind, he had to juggle the strong views on equality and abolition of slavery held by radical Republicans—including House member Thaddeus Stevens—and the preferences of more moderate Republicans in the states. from the frontier (in which the slaves were not freed by the Emancipation Proclamation), and from the more conservative northern Democrats in order to get the number of votes needed to ratify the thirteenth amendment to the constitution–which prohibited the slavery and involuntary servitude—except in a few cases, such as those convicted of a crime—before the war ended so that the rebellious southern states couldn't defeat it after joining the Union once again.
Lincoln achieved both the end of the war and the ratification of the amendment banning slavery only with the commitment of the most extreme abolitionists and through much political and legal maneuvering. The film ends with Lincoln's own death at the hands of John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater.
We are waiting for you next Wednesday at the cineforo on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at six.
Diane Norton
Cycle 2016-2017: “American Biopics: civil rights in the United States through its protagonists”.
Screening of the film (VOSE) followed by a discussion about it.
Lincoln (2013, Steve Spielberg / 149 min. – 2 hours and a half).
Screening: at 18 p.m. / Colloquium: at 20:30 p.m.
Moderator: Diana Norton and Catalina Iannone.
