Powerful movie. Developing tension for a story in which the
ending is no secret must pose a difficult challenge, and yet I watched with hope,
sorrow, and true anticipation. For 150 minutes I really believed Daniel Day Lewis was Abraham Lincoln.
One scene in particular moved me, although not in the way
you might expect. When the House of Representatives requires information from
the president, a note is hastily scrawled on a scrap of paper and a man literally runs from
Congress to the White House to deliver it. The response is conducted in the same
manner, and it occurred to me how much drama has been lost the world in these
days of instant communication. Those moments of waiting, anticipating, hoping,
are largely lost to us in these days of text messages, emails, and impatience.
There are exceptions, of course. The images of our current
president and his cabinet watching the screen during the raid that ended with
the death of Osama bin Laden are riveting. How many of us watched over and
over, fascinated by the sheer energy in that room, wondering what it might have
felt like to have a front row seat to history? Perhaps it held the interest of
the population precisely because there are so few of them now, when network
news anchors break stories even before the individuals involved know exactly what
is the story.
Don’t misunderstand- I love my iPhone as much as the next
guy. But there is power in recognizing the losses to our culture- our humanity,
even- when the drama and tension in our lives is erased with a push of a
button.
See Lincoln. You
won’t regret it. 