Critic's Pick: The incomparable 'Lincoln'  November 15, 2012|By
Betsy Sharkey   • Daniel Day-Lewis, center rear, stars in
"Lincoln." Daniel Day-Lewis, center rear, stars in "Lincoln."
(David James, Associated…)  Director Steven Spielberg,
screenwriter Tony Kusher and the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis
may have done the impossible in "Lincoln": They've given us a
politician to love — without reservations. Drawing on historian
Doris Kearns Goodwin's expansive "Team of Rivals: The Political
Genius of Abraham Lincoln," the filmmaking collective conjures
up a portrait of a far more nuanced leader than the stoic
country lawyer in a stove-pipe hat. Indeed, the strength of the
film rests in the strength of the character — a whimsical
raconteur, a brilliant strategist and a troubled humanist. The
heart of the story is the president's unyielding push to pass
the 13th amendment and ensure the freedom accorded by the
Emancipation Proclamation. Day-Lewis is equally unwilling to
compromise, burying himself so deeply in Linc