Bullets or Ballots

Review: Lincoln + Django Unchained

Two of the most watchable movies of 2012 concern slavery. While one documents a moment of national importance, the other invents a sprawling revenge story. Both films are also prone to directorial overindulgence.

Lincoln

Daniel Day-Lewis simply is Abraham Lincoln. With his uncanny knack for transformation, Day-Lewis (more than most actors) uses his disguise as a way into the character: the beard and gray hair dye, the soft high-pitched voice, the crotchety but nimble walk. His Lincoln is a sage old storyteller and a dignified leader. How could he be otherwise in a Steven Spielberg movie? But screenwriter Tony Kushner is sly and writes the pricklier aspects of Lincoln, from an occasional vulgar anecdote to his troubled relationship with his son and with his wife. Sally Field, who hasn't had a good film role in years, doesn't shy away from a caustic, desperate Mary Todd Lincoln. Her Mary is deeply wounded by the loss of their son, but still determined to prove herself to the men's club of Washington. And what a men's club: The cast list is a who's-who of actors. I especially enjoyed James Spader, Jared Harris, and the scene-stealing Tommy Lee Jones.

The climate is war, and the political discourse is slavery. Lincoln covers the battle brewing inside the House of Representatives over the Thirteenth Amendment. Kushner's taut script reportedly was whittled down from drafts that chronicled Lincoln's whole life. The end result is some of his most focused writing, with an energy to the dialogue that separates Lincoln from PBS-pledge drive historical fare.



Lincoln is more than hagiography, largely due to Day-Lewis and Kushner. But the narrow focus brings up issues of representation. In one loaded scene, Lincoln asks servant Elizabeth Keckley what she would do if free. It's the only moment of reflection on how black people, whether enslaved or not, saw the amendment and the ongoing war. Lincoln's uncertainty in this scene suggests how insular Washington could be, that Congressmen fought over ideals rather than the people behind them. Sometimes, Spielberg plays it safe. From the standard John Williams score to an unnecessarily sentimental ending, he falls back on his usual instincts. But his work with actors is strong, and the suspense leading to ratification shows Spielberg still knows something about moviemaking.

For Your Consideration: Best Picture; Daniel Day-Lewis (Actor); Sally Field (Supporting Actress); Tommy Lee Jones (Supporting Actor); Tony Kushner (Screenplay).


Django Unchained

Immediately before the Thirteenth Amendment and the Civil War comes Django, a slave-turned-bounty hunter who is freed by Dr. King Schultz and embarks upon a heroic quest to rescue his wife Broomhilda. Not quite the history lesson Lincoln taught. Quentin Tarantino's wild wild Western (should we call it a Southern?) is a companion to his Nazi takedown Inglourious Basterds. Thank goodness Django Unchained feels entertaining, because the underlying core of the film is Tarantino's hard-on for retribution. The final half hour, for example, feels like Tarantino as twelve-year-old film geek, staging a ridiculous bloodbath for the fun of it. The ending is so explosive, it's as if he need to avenge the whole South personally.

There's much to admire, of course, when Tarantino is focused. The unlikely pairing of German-American Dr. Schultz and newly freed Django gives the film the essence of a Bob Hope-Bing Crosby road trip: two vagabonds in a crazy land. Only after an hour, once our heroes meet with plantation owner Calvin Candie, does the root-em, shoot-em violence take on a brutal undertone. The bloodshed of white slaveowners is rollicking fun, but the real violence -- briefly depicted -- horrifies us.

Django assembles excellent performances, starting with the charismatic Christoph Waltz as Dr. Schultz. Alongside Jamie Foxx's eerily cool Django, Waltz keeps the picture lively, trading barbs and bullets with equal relish. Samuel L. Jackson is especially menacing as Stephen, the Uncle Tom of Candie's plantation, so appalling in his obsequience that we cheer when he gets it in the end. Even Leonardo DiCaprio is surprisingly good as Calvin Candie, a leering twinkle in his eye and an ironic sense of decorum. After being passive for so long, Foxx finally gets to go full badass. He gets his girl (the underused Kerry Washington), and he gets his revenge, all to the sounds of James Brown and John Legend.

For Your Consideration: Best Picture; Quentin Tarantino (Director); Christoph Waltz (Actor); Samuel L. Jackson (Supporting Actor); Robert Richardson (Cinematography).