I didn't expect anything from "Lincoln". When I saw "Lincoln" win twelve Oscar nominations, all I felt was the dehydration of vegetables. In my eyes, Spielberg, who has been reduced to "perfect mediocrity", plus the trend of biographical films of "I'm here to win Oscars" every year, and the theme of American theme launched by the general trend of political elections . But the Academy will always be discerning—perhaps the film Spielberg would most like to make, because he can, after all, be immortalized as a masterpiece in the name of Lincoln.
At the very beginning of the movie, Lincoln is a "half-man and half-god" in front of him - re-election with high votes, leader of the North, liberation of black slaves, a saint is always meaningless. We are not sublime, we need to understand, we need to self-substitute. What the audience wants to see is the sacredness that can be touched, the possibility of being able to do it, the inhumanity that is in line with human feelings, and only in this way can people be believed-this kind of judging standard is as pragmatic as the Lincoln himself portrayed in the film, and it is true. It is these seemingly vulgar pragmatisms that determine that the creative psychology of "Lincoln" cannot be utilitarian, but at the same time, unexpectedly, it has completed the proud masterpiece reservation in another mode.
As a biopic, "Lincoln" does not adopt any prominent and novel way to shape Lincoln's image. The film is just an honest description of Lincoln's life; the fragmented narratives of visiting soldiers and wounded are flat and uninteresting, and they are not even as moving as the details of the soldiers reciting the "Gettysburg Address". Describing a broken family and conflicts with it, as well as some desperate self-will in dealing with family issues, are also basic techniques for enriching the three-dimensional characters of biopics; even I think the key to the film's imperfection lies in Lincoln himself. lack of motivation. All his actions in this film are ultimately for the ideal, the ideal that the country will no longer be divided, the ideal that everyone is equal, his persistence and purely relying on ideals to act, once the film advances to the motivation level, Speer What Berg gave was still a castle in the air.
We will remember his indifference and detachment in dealing with others, his clumsiness and hesitation in the face of his colleagues, his indifference in the face of ordinary people revealing a vague separation, his optimism and his fondness for telling stories, his fondness for laughing, and his indifference The artist's harsh romanticism when it is determined that the goal will not be relaxed; but these are only looming fragments, an optional extension of the character image. So at the end of the day, I still have difficulty getting close to this saint who was not made into a saint.
He has been restored as much as possible, but he is still a shining symbol, not a person; although it does not make sense to restore and deconstruct a symbol of hope and freedom into a human being, perhaps he himself is such a saint who has no selfish desires; Movies are too demanding.
But the whole film of "Lincoln" is still like a dazzling pearl, shining brightly, which can be called superb. The most amazing thing is that as a biographical film, it actually produces a strong sense of audience involvement. The basic aesthetics of biographical literature and biographical films are often to use plain and punctured language patterns to place readers and audiences. From the perspective of onlookers or God, the scalpel-like analysis of the cross-sections of the various layers of the master is used to complete the three-dimensional modeling of the characters. But that's not the case with Lincoln.
"Lincoln" directly throws out a goal to be accomplished by the protagonist, and then uses strong audio-visual language and moral inspiration to immerse all the audience into the film environment, so that they begin to interact with the film content and characters, inspiring them to personally Passion to experience and change established facts. It's hard to remember a biopic that would make one want to help the protagonist all the time, personally assisting him in the achievements recorded in the history books, and then the climax of reaching the goal will be filled with excitement. When the audience has an established concept of "black people must be liberated" before entering the movie theater, then all Lincoln's struggles in the film are strongly marked by a common desire and converge into an unstoppable collective ideology, countless The soul is thus united and brought into the mood of watching the movie, and people see themselves in the process of Lincoln's struggle.
And the pragmatism that pervades the creation of the film will inevitably reach the depth that the film hopes to excavate. We are strongly aware that any great cause that is fair and just can hardly be accomplished by means of complete purity and justice—behind the splendid whiteness, there will always be noble filth hidden, all great causes , all with deception and bribery. But these filth and vileness are not singular, and though they will be remembered, they will "eventually be purified by the self who realizes them." The film faithfully and tirelessly records Lincoln's superb political tactics, official bribery, private lobbying, outright threats, secrecy and white lies in the process of reaching a consensus for the Republican Party and winning 20 votes for the Democratic Party.
A sober audience may realize that if such pragmatism develops to an extreme, it is the extreme law and scism of "whatever it takes to achieve the goal", "for the grand plan", and "for the best interests". But we are not absolute moral supremacists, and Spielberg also showed his compromises sensitively and slyly: Lincoln's methods were not dirty, there was no unnecessary harm, and they were basically within the moral tolerance of ordinary people. And more importantly, he reminds us again and again that the reason for doing this is for the true equality of human beings, and it is inevitable for the human rights movement and the progress of the times. Perhaps, this is another necessary step for the growth of the protagonist in the European and American literary tradition - realizing the complexity of human nature, the world is by no means black and white, realizing the existence of "secrets and lies", but at the same time understanding, in this blurred focus, ideal In a broken world, there is still hope and light.
For Chinese audiences, "Lincoln" has boundaries and barriers that are difficult to reconcile. Not only the lack of background knowledge and historical knowledge, but also the way of cognition, behavior and a sense of awe for justice. But for all its false appearances, "Lincoln" is an excellent and shocking film, and it also builds on the fact that the film itself was an unsuccessful biopic; if it won the Oscar for Best Picture, It is bound to be controversial, but it deserves it and deserves it.
Spielberg finally made a masterpiece again, a sharp, powerful, heart-beating, vividly alive film, not the mediocre work that seemed perfect in the past, but was in fact dead and dry. He's alive and that's enough, so it doesn't matter if the movie is called "Lincoln" or "The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution."
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