Lincoln

By John Mulderig, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) – With the unsurprising exception of Jesus Christ, more books are said to have been written about President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) than about any other person in history.

As for the screen, our most fascinating – and arguably greatest – chief executive has been portrayed by such Hollywood luminaries as Walter Huston (“Abraham Lincoln,” 1930), Henry Fonda (1939’s “Young Mr. Lincoln”) and Raymond Massey (“Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” 1940).

Those estimable names notwithstanding, it’s hard to imagine that any actor has ever inhabited the persona of the legendary rail-splitter quite as convincingly as Daniel Day-Lewis does in director Steven Spielberg’s splendid historical drama “Lincoln” (DreamWorks). Day-Lewis’ brilliant performance is undeniably the highlight – though by no means the only asset – of this engrossing profile.

The plot focuses on the Civil War president’s passionate yet wily struggle, during the closing days of that conflict, to steer a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. Aided by his secretary of state, William Seward (David Strathairn), but distracted by his troubled personal life – Sally Field plays his famously high-strung wife, Mary – Lincoln uses rhetoric to win over his hesitant Cabinet and patronage to woo his congressional opponents.

As for the Great Emancipator’s ostensible allies on Capitol Hill, irascible Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania (a marvellous Tommy Lee Jones) hurls withering sarcasm at all and sundry and openly avows his mistrust of Lincoln.

Whether in line with history or not, a scene showing Stevens sharing his bed with his mixed-race housekeeper presents a curious moral quandary: Assuming that they could not marry by law, but would have tied the knot if permitted to, the guilt, if any, attaching to their relationship must have been considerably mitigated by the force of unjust circumstances.

Along with the tension created by Mary’s neurotic behaviour, Lincoln is also burdened by grief over the untimely death of his son Willie two years before the events of the movie. Though not especially close to his oldest son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – whose intense desire to join the Army poses a threat to Mary’s sanity, and thus presents his father with a terrible dilemma – Lincoln dotes on his youngest child, Tad (Gulliver McGrath). Like the Lincoln marriage, however, their touching bond is tinged by the tragedy of Willie’s absence.

The trajectory of Spielberg’s tale is, by its nature, uplifting, while Lincoln’s multifaceted personality – which encompassed idealism, political shrewdness, melancholy, humour and even a few endearing foibles – is vividly illuminated in Tony Kushner’s screenplay. As his script reveals, however, Lincoln was not above telling an earthy anecdote if it advanced a point he wished to make, nor were those around him too refined to employ vulgarity for the sake of emphasis from time to time.

Still, some parents may consider the educational value and moral import of the film – which is based, in part, on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 2006 book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” – sufficient to overcome the elements listed below, thus allowing for patronage by older adolescents.

The film contains intense but mostly bloodless battlefield violence, a scene involving severed limbs, cohabitation, about a dozen uses of profanity, racial slurs, a couple of rough terms and occasional crude and crass language.

 

Chasing Mavericks

By Joseph McAleer, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) – Surf’s up – way, way up – in “Chasing Mavericks” (Fox), a thrilling action film about daredevil surfers who take on some of the biggest waves in the world, while rebuilding their own broken lives in the process.

The picture also offers viewers – particularly teens – a refreshingly positive role model in the person of a young man who, despite a mountain of obstacles, inspires others with his inherent sense of goodness, perseverance and self-discipline.

Jointly directed by Curtis Hansen and Michael Apted, “Chasing Mavericks” is based on the true story of Californian Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston). At the tender age of 15, Jay attempted to surf the Mavericks, a famously formidable coastal spot located near the Golden State’s Half Moon Bay.

Jay is shown to have the weight of the world on his young shoulders. His father has moved out, and his depressed mother, Kristy (Elisabeth Shue), is a drunken mess. Summoning a maturity beyond his years, Jay must act as parent and breadwinner, sobering his mother up for job interviews while working overtime at a pizza parlour to make ends meet.

Compounding his problems is the situation at his high school, where he is bullied for being poor, and can’t seem to catch the eye of pretty schoolmate Kim (Leven Rambin).

And yet Jay keeps turning the other cheek and looking ahead, leaving his peers puzzled. “You always smile,” Kim tells him. “You only see the good in everything.”

What keeps Jay going – and makes others jealous – is his natural gift for surfing. The water transforms him in a baptismal way, fuelling Jay’s desire to use his God-given talents for the betterment of others. Thus it’s no surprise that at one point we see him floating underwater, arms outstretched in a pose that suggests the role of a redeemer.

Jay finds a kindred spirit in his next-door neighbour, Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler). He’s the ultimate surfer dude who has family issues of his own. His wife, Brenda (Abigail Spencer), prays that Frosty will eventually accept responsibility and become a better husband and father.

Frosty’s obsession with the Mavericks rubs off on Jay, and after much pestering, he agrees to train the teen in the art of big wave surfing. Frosty becomes Yoda to Jay’s Luke Skywalker, teaching him the “four pillars of a solid human foundation” – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

“Chasing Mavericks” features some spectacular cinematography, placing audiences on the surfboard and above and under the waves. Surfing becomes much more than a sport, as the duo learns to overcome fears, face grief, resolve conflicts, and rebuild relationships.

Not surprisingly, “Live like Jay” has become a popular motto among surfers; perhaps now it will catch on with movie-goers as well.

The film contains intense sports scenes and some emotionally challenging moments.

 

Anna Karenina

By Kurt Jensen, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) – “Sin has a price, you may be sure of that.” The titular character (Keira Knightley) doesn’t heed husband Alexei’s (Jude Law) advice in the oh-so-lush new adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” (Focus).

But if she did, of course, there would be no plot, so it’s on with the obsessive adultery that destroys her.

Director Joe Wright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard cover nearly all the elements from Tolstoy’s sprawling 1877 novel, but they present about half of it in a highly stylized manner, using a theatre as both a framing device and a setting, including the auditorium and the rafters.

Actors in a film standing around like statues lends a science-fiction look to the proceedings. The device is effective, though, when Anna scandalizes an entire opera audience by her presence and a couple of hundred extras freeze with their lorgnettes, mouths agape.

The intent may have been to use artifice to place distance between the viewer and the very sad story, suggesting – shouting, rather – that the actors are playing archetypes. But it looks pretentiously artsy and creates the unpleasant sensation that the movie audience is completing an assignment for English class.

C’mon, it’s a Tolstoy novel – a stout favourite, filmed many times. Bring on the lavish costumes, furs, ice-covered trains and the classic dialogue. Especially the trains! They’re so versatile, after all. They can transport passengers or serve as omens, symbols of lust or vehicles of divine retribution.

At the outset, Anna is happily married to Alexei, a government official in St. Petersburg, and she’s also devoted to their young son, Serhoza (Oskar McNamara). On a Moscow visit to her brother, Oblonsky (Matthew Macfadyen), however, she encounters Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a handsome cavalry officer, and is immediately smitten. Oblonsky has an illicit affair of his own going on, since he’s cheating on wife Dolly (Kelly Macdonald) with their children’s nanny,

Alexei is aware of Anna’s initial infatuation, and tells her, “I consider jealousy to be insulting to you and degrading to me.” He also reminds her that adultery “is a crime against God.”

That’s not enough to stop her, and she begins a heated liaison that produces an out-of-wedlock girl.

Alexei isn’t demolished by that either, and takes the child into his household, although he hisses at Anna, “I thank God the curse of love is lifted from me!”

If he grants her a divorce, Alexei reminds Anna, under the law she’ll be unable to see her son again, and she and the count will have no legal or social standing even if they marry. They’ll be outcasts, rejected by decent people.

But Anna is by now as addicted to Vronsky as to the liquid morphine she’s using.

This version includes Tolstoy’s rarely filmed sub-plot involving the sturdily honest rural landowner Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) and Kitty (Alicia Vikander), Dolly’s younger sister, who manages to find true love after Vronsky rejects her. Just as Anna is steeped in wrongdoing, Kitty is sterling in her virtue.

Yet this “Anna” is difficult to take seriously. Why, we’re left to wonder, would Anna reject her upright and doting husband in favour of an effete aristocrat given to dressing in all white, striking poses, pursing his lips and holding his cigarettes daintily between thumb and index finger?

The film contains non-graphic adulterous sexual activity, fleeting rear male nudity and a scene of breast-feeding.