Abraham Lincoln (9/10)

by Tony Medley

3-episode series.

TV-14

Maybe the best and most accurate telling of Lincoln’s life ever made. Graham Sibley is a dead ringer for Honest Abe and the script uses the actual words of Lincoln and his debate adversary, Senator Steven Douglas.

The film tells more about Abe’s youth and upbringing than generally known. It covers his time as a state legislator and then as a successful attorney. It is probably the most accurate and understandable telling of his romance with Mary Todd Lincoln (Jenny Stead), who is generally mis-judged based on her later looks and behavior after the assassination. Instead, here we see her as a much sought-after young woman, and the film shows the closeness between the two throughout his Presidency. If only for this, this is a film to be seen, but there is so much more here.

Superbly directed by Malcolm Venville from an excellent script by Rebecca Sue Haber (1 episode), Sundi Lofty (1 episode), and Frederick Rendina (3 episodes), it easily seques into his becoming a nationally known politician. But best of all, it captures his brilliance and how he stood alone in his conduct of the Civil War and his graciousness in handling disparate personalities. One of the highlights is Sibley’s moving delivery of the Gettysburg Address, probably the greatest speech in American history.

It shows how he had to suffer through the maladroit handling of the Union army by Gen. George McClennan (Sven Ruygork, whom you might recognize as the actor in the commercial who is constantly flubbing his lines on Manhattan Island) and Gen. George Meade (Nicky Rebello) who failed to follow up the victory at Gettysburg and end the war there by letting Lee's army escape.

The film is enhanced by commentary by Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the fine book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," a must read for anyone interested in Lincoln and the Civil War.

Venville shows the brilliant balancing act Abe traversed to both save the Union and free the slaves. This film captures what an amazing man he was, the best America has produced. History Channel.