Lincoln" naysayers on the film's release in the United States mainly commented on two things: the historical error committed by Steven Spielberg when in a climactic scene the director showed a Connecticut congressman voting against the abolition of slavery; and that everyone's teeth, including those of the slaves, were splendidly white. I consider it my solemn duty to declare this is no biggie.
Complete and relentless accuracy would not have served "Lincoln" in the least — I mean, do we really want to sit through two and a half hours of watching dental-plan-lacking 19th-century Americans baring molars? Besides, there's plenty of realism in "Lincoln" to spare — with corpses piled up as high as the tall President Abraham Lincoln when he inspects the carnage on a battlefield. Real enough for you?
"Lincoln" is absorbing, wrenching and whip-smart as it follows the quest of the 16th American president instilling the 13th Amendment to end slavery, amid a bloody internal strife that threatened to cripple the nation forever. Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for his engrossing and almost maniacal performance in the title role, and the picture shows Spielberg in complete command of his particular subgenre that can best be described as History Via Spielberg (along with "Schindler's List," "Amistad" and "Saving Private Ryan").