The Better Angels

This is one of the most extraordinary films I have ever seen. I've been pondering the experience for a couple of days. I really don't know how to express what I thought and felt while watching it. I fear that whatever I say will sound plastic, and it was not plastic at all. It was real. It fell just short of being living flesh.

To start, I felt like I was really there with young Lincoln and his family. It was like visiting with them. The feeling became deeper as the film progressed.

Black and white was the perfect choice for this film. The cinematography was in a class by itself. Orson Wells did not do any better when he filmed Citizen Kane.

Many of the camera angles were new to me; and yet they were as comfortable as old shoes. The sound was just as extraordinary. The wind in the trees, the birds chirping in the fields all combined with the skilled use of the camera and drew me in.

I've seen, as far as I know, every film ever made about Lincoln. He has been one of my heroes since I was a child. But, I've never seen one that covered his early childhood in such depth. Not necessarily depth of historical detail, but depth of experience; what he lived, thought and felt as a boy.

I was surprised and pleased to see something of his early school years. And yes, they prayed in school and the teacher taught from the Bible. The one room schoolhouse was, to the best of my knowledge, accurately portrayed.

If you question the reality of Christian teaching in early American schools, I suggest you Google up a copy of the first editions of McGuffey's Readers. You'll find them to be full of Christianity. That's the first editions; 1836 - 37. Not the later editions when the "gutting" of Christian teaching and principals was already having it's effect. More's the pity.

The two women in young Lincoln's life were of course his two mothers.

To watch Lincoln's mother touch and stroke his face and tousled hair was perhaps the most heart touching portrayal of a mother's love I have ever seen in film. Words were not needed; the love in her eyes and the touch of her hand said it all. No wonder Lincoln gave her so much praise.

Following his mother's death, his step-mother eventually became just as close to him. She too, was an extraordinary woman.

I disagree with the short shrift many film critics have given to Lincoln's father. He played as large a part in shaping Lincoln's character as did his two mothers. Lincoln Sr. is well represented here; and deservedly so.

When I was a boy there was a time I would have given anything to hear my father say to me what Abe's father says to him toward the end of the film. Of course I won't give it away, but I'll tell you it's worth waiting for.

I don't know if anyone connected with the film will ever read this, but if they do, I want to express my thanks and let you know I'm grateful for for work and care you put into "The Better Angels." I can honestly say that I think I'm a bit better for having seen it.

If you have not yet see this work of love, please do. I think you'll consider it to be time very well spent.

"The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Abe Lincoln

If writer-director A. J. Edwards wanted to show in his biopic, The Better Angels, the influence of angelic women on young Abe Lincoln, he succeeded. This minimalist, dialogue-spare depiction of Lincoln's early life in the woods of Indiana is rife with beautiful shots of trees and sunlight, not to mention a pristine cabin, but mostly it is filled with the love and direction given by Nancy (Brit Marling) and Sarah Lincoln (Diane Kruger).

Not much to do out there in the frontier but cut wood and think about ways to be a better human being. While the women chat with Abe about life, Tom Lincoln (Jason Clarke), his dad, contributes a considerable amount to Abe's tough mindedness, largely by testing Abe's patience with dad's harsh discipline.

While this less-than-epic activity occurs, it is encased in gorgeous photography, black and white crisp, with light streaming through tall trees, frequently at low angle to emphasize the child's point of view. You could almost say it's a copy of Terrence Malick's work, and you'd be right because the ethereal cinematography of that master (Tree of Life, Badlands, for example) no doubt influenced Edwards, whose film is produced by Malick and with whom he has worked.

On the other hand, the poetic images could be off putting for those who accuse Malick of being pretentious or just interested in painting rather than telling a story. I go where a director wants to take me—in this case, to a lyrical feeling about the early life of an immortalized leader.

Although The Better Angels is mostly impressionism, symbolic shots couched in terse language, be it by actors or voice-over, the picture of young Abe up to his rural schooling seems spot on for the intense, brilliant, iconic president we have come to know. I'm impressed.

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother" Abe Lincoln

What is so immediately intoxicating about this film is the cinematography. From the first frame you are pulled into the experience as viscerally as moving image can manage. Albeit this is not, per se, immediate. The film actually begins with an extended introduction to the score or, more specifically, the leitmotif that will accompany you throughout much of the trajectory. This brings me to the main idea: this piece is ahistorical in many ways. Rather than a score befitting the time period, you make your acquaintance with a modern sounding slightly more minimal arc of sounds which speak more to the mood of the film than to anything aimed at a period drama. A fortiori, the decision to begin the film with this extended immersion into music—a medium beautifully unconstrained by the more limited potential of physical form is a titillating foreshadowing of what the director is after here. This movie intends to touch only on themes that span the course of human history (and perhaps transcend it entirely given the religious connotations often present (similar to The Tree of Life in that regard)) through the presentation of mood, love, loss, family, discipline, isolation, friendship, freedom etc. What makes this so successful is not the scope alone. Any film can be ambitious and fall flat but this endeavor found it's successful portrayal of the universal through specific attention to the particular (much as poetry does (and much as The Tree of Life did)). There is great attention to detail in this film and all of the powerful themes conveyed here are tightly woven into the fabric of a very historically particular life and time. This is what is so magical about The Better Angels. It is ambitiously universal in everything it intends to convey and it does so through a radical focus on the absolutely particular. This is a film about Abraham Lincoln's childhood and that is what you see... But!– You never even hear his name. To an outsider, uninitiated into American Culture and History, it would be the same experience. The detail is so zoomed in that only the most fundamental elements of the life and character portrayed here can be seen. The details that one speaks of in a history class are nowhere to be found. This film pulls you to two opposite ends of an essential spectrum of human knowledge. On one end: abstraction to the universal and on the other: absolute particularity. It is the way that the former permeates the latter that makes this film an exceptional work of cinema. Roger Ebert correctly daubed it: "a genuine American art film", and it is indeed that and yet more. This more, on it's own, however is insufficient. Being a genuine American film alone is insufficient. Combining the two such that the universal emerges from the details and routines of an American woodland childhood is what strikes gold. The message and medium chosen were paired together exquisitely and make for an immersive experience of cinematic poetry and thematic meditation. The Better Angels is indeed utterly American, and yet wholly universal all at once. I hope this enhances your experiences of it.

Thanks. -DM

p.s. I wrote this in an inspired frenzy so please excuse any potential iPhone typos and read my roving ramblings charitably. Cheers!

p.p.s. It's quite beautiful that this is a film which defies typical cinematic structure so thoroughly that I am at a loss for how one could even potentially construct a description capable of containing spoilers. I don't think it can be done.

The love Abraham Lincoln has for his mother and his step mother is ever-present throughout this film and stands at the forefront of his struggle in childhood. The opening quote of the movie is "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." This is very apparent for the rest of the film; his struggle living in Indiana and dealing with the death of his mother whom he very much loved. This movie is extremely dreamlike and poetic, however, its effectiveness as a full length film seems unnecessary. This film is a unique artistic look at Abraham's childhood and his relationships with important women in his life, but its obvious low-budget nature and minimalistic dialogue calls for a disappointment to all Lincoln fans. The film is set over a three-year period starting from when his family moves from Kentucky to Indiana. There is a philosophical nature to the movie that seems more relevant to the artistic audience than to the historical accuracy of the time. The movie is a visual work of art and for fans of Lincoln's biography and life, it is merely that. It is not to say that The Better Angels is not a beautifully clever visual to an artistic crowd wanting a glimpse into Lincoln's life, it just does not have the substance most Lincoln fans look for. The black and white film does a lot to give the feeling of the time of Abraham Lincoln's childhood and misfortunes, but does not provide complete accuracy and overview on Lincoln. Even though it wonderfully shows his father's hatred of his scholarly endeavors and his mother's influence, the minimalism of its dialogue prevents a full understanding of the historical context surrounding the time. His childhood is what drove his entire career and the inspiring political changes he enacted and these inspirations stemmed from his definite sense of education and his relationships with women.

My first opinion for this movie is that it has beautiful cinematography by having the screen move in different directions and having a variety of shots. Even though it is in black and white, I find that the movie captures the lighting and darkness really well. The sounds effects for the movie is really amplified for example the crunching of the leaves or birds chirping, likewise for the soundtrack it made the movie more calming and beautiful with the violin or piano playing. The movie didn't have a lot of dialogue beside the narrator's voice of Abraham. It didn't sound like him either since it was more southern and not as high pitched. A better representation of Abraham's voice could be Daniel Day-Lewis's in Spielberg's Lincoln (2012) which is more high-pitched. I also find that the movie also explains Abraham Lincoln's life and his relationships with his family and friends very accurately, which the movie centers more on the interactions with his mother, step mother, and father. The actor that played Abraham didn't seem to show much emotions or show any personality traits throughout the movie for example, there was a lot of scenes that just focuses on his face with no emotions. Overall, I don't usually watch a black and white movie however, I enjoyed watching this since it was entertaining and wasn't dull or tedious to watch.