Lincoln

I love it when I see a movie and come out thinking "wow, I really did learn something from that". Couldn't face the Mongolian hordes at the shops on "Black Friday" and so we saw the new Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln", with the formidable Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role.  As a naturalized American citizen, I enjoyed the useful lesson in American history, particularly the tumultuous period between January 1865 and the conclusion of the Civil War on April 9 and Lincoln's assassination five days later, on Good Friday. The movie documents the fight between the anti-abolitionist Democrats, Lincoln's moderates and the more zealous anti-slavery radicals of the young Republican Party. Good supporting cast including Sally Field as Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln, James Spader as a rascally/roguish 19th-century lobbyist, and Tommy Lee Jones as a Republican abolitionist.