13th Amendment - Aaaaaj!

I'm sure you've noticed all these posters of Steven Spielberg's new movie "Lincoln". As the title indicates, the movie is about the 16th president of America Abraham Lincoln, more precisely it is only about his last years of presidency during the American Civil War and it also shows the struggle Lincoln had to go through to pass the 13th Amendment, which meant the abolishment of slavery in the 19th cenutry.                

I will not write about the plot now because I've covered the topic above. It is more important to talk about his major role in establishing a law, which changed the entire America at that time. We have to consider that people at these days couldn't imagine a society where coloured people could vote or do other things except being slaves. If we keep this in mind, it is very beneficial for us to understand the whole situation. So, there was a president with a great vision, to preserve the Union and to give every citizen of America the right to live freely, so he basically wanted to bring out the best in the people of his country. But there were some difficult problems he had to face while being determined to reach his goal. All the Republicans didn't fully agreed with him and the Democrats as well wanted slavery to be kept as it was an economic and crucial help for them. However, the very human Lincoln managed to persuade the people of his idea and finally he reached the vote majority and the 13th Amendment was passed - Aaaaaj!
You wonder why I write Aaaaj? At the elections for the Amendment, the members of the House of Represantatives could either vote  "No" (Naaaaaaaaaj) or "Yes" (Aaaaaaaaaj). 

But the most interesting part of the whole story is the fact that Lincoln had to do some life-changing decisions and sometimes he was caught between what is good for the nation (make peace with the South) and what should be done (abolish slavery). So he basically suffered from moral doubt. And this dilemma is perfectly conveyed in the movie. 

One thing I found out is that Daniel Day-Lewis (plays Lincoln and is the protagonist of my previous blog "In the name of the Father") refused to play this role for 8 years!! Can you imagine that? He didn't want to put himslef under pressure and portray the most beloved president of America, but luckily, in the end he agreed. Day-Lewis adopted the American accent and obviously proved again his excellent ability to play the part of another person so well! 

I guess if you are not well informed about Lincoln and the whole slavery issue of that time, I wouldn't recomment to watch the movie. I myself watched the great movie but sometimes it was really hard to catch up, although I felt pretty confident in American history. 
Anyway, there are also some funny scenes in the movie because Abraham Lincoln used to tell crazy stories which didn't have any relation to the issue of a situation :-)

Go and watch the movie, it is absolutely worth seeing! :-)
Here's an interview of Dany Day-Lewis where he speaks of his experience acting Lincoln:

 

Ps: I'll try hard not to write too many blogs  about movies anymorein the future ;-)