FILM OF THE WEEK

Lincoln (2012) 9.30pm, Monday, TG4

“I can’t accomplish a goddamn thing of any worth until we cure ourselves of slavery!”

When Steven Spielberg decided he wanted to make a screen biography of Abraham Lincoln, he turned to the only actor he felt could now do justice to the role: Daniel DayLewis. When the o er (and script) duly arrived, Day-lewis graciously declined in a long, eloquent letter, which a smiling Spielberg subsequently read back to him when presenting the actor with one of his many awards for the role. “As fascinated as I am by Abe,’’ the letter explained, ‘’it is the fascination of a grateful spectator who longs to see a story told, rather than that of a participant.”

Undeterred, Spielberg threw out that script, and a second treatment found itself winging its way to Wicklow. Again, the o er was declined. It was a third treatment by Pulitzer winner Tony Kushner, focusing on the last months of Lincoln’s life and the political machinations surrounding the bill to abolish slavery, that nally turned Day-lewis from ‘‘grateful spectator’’ to willing participant to Best Actor Oscar winner, for the third time. Lincoln will be a tricky proposition for some audiences. Weighing in at 150 minutes, it’s a dense character study of a president both energised and burdened by his o ce, at a crucial point in his country’s history. Less a story about politicians than the machinations of politics, those expecting sweeping scenes of con ict between North and South will be disappointed. While the Civil War rages, the battles that Spielberg (and indeed Lincoln) is chie y concerned with are not the ones taking place in Shiloh or Bull Run, but those taking place in the hearts and minds of congressmen with regard to the proposed 13th Amendment, the passing of which would outlaw slavery throughout the United States. And Daniel DayLewis truly gives a performance for the ages.