Product Details

• Actors: Gore Vidal
• Directors: Vikram Jayanti
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• DVD Release Date: March 28, 2006
• Run Time: 140 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000CCW2UM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #50,079 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In 1972, Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern was forced to drop Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate when it was revealed that the latter had twice undergone electro-shock therapy for depression. Imagine, then, what the national media (who played a significant role in Eagleton's downfall) would have made of the Abraham Lincoln portrayed in Lincoln. This startling program depicts our 16th president as a man who was not simply depressed, but suicidal; who had dreams portending his own death; who survived a childhood of Dickensian suffering; who endured a loveless marriage in which two of his and wife Mary's sons died young; and who was brooding, tormented, possibly a closet homosexual, and by his own description "the most miserable man living." What's more, some of the historians and other talking heads taking part in director Vikram Jayanti's two-part, 140-minute documentary suggest that Lincoln's greatness came not in spite of these burdens but because of them, as his own "forced introversion" made him supremely empathetic to others. Produced for the History Channel, Lincoln commingles various elements--biography, interviews, re-enactments (especially of the events of April 15, 1865, the day he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth), excerpts of Lincoln's letters and speeches, etc.--to support its thesis, and the results, while sometimes melodramatic, are compelling. The mood lightens up a bit in the second part, which details Lincoln's years as president, when his vehement opposition to slavery engendered his extraordinary oratorical skills, his steely determination to hold the country together through the horrors of the Civil War, and his inevitable death (which is attributed not to his having freed the slaves but to his insistence that they be given the right to vote). Was Lincoln one of our finest presidents, then? No doubt. But it's a safe bet that had he come along in the mid-20th Century or later, given the kind of scrutiny he'd be subjected to, he wouldn't have stood a chance of being elected. --Sam Graham

Product Description

A FASCINATING EXPLORATION OF A U.S. PRESIDENT WHOSE GREATEST WAR TOOK PLACE WITHIN HIMSELF. Innovative, intimate and emotionally charged, LINCOLN explores the inner conflicts that plagued and inspired the President who called himself "The loneliest man in the world." Academy Award-winning producer (When We Were Kings) Vikram Jayanti goes inside a life scarred by loss and a mind ravaged by tragedy to uncover a man whose grand achievements were fueled by his own personal turmoil. Using interviews with leading Lincoln biographers like Gore Vidal, Jan Morris, and Harold Holzer, as well as Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winning author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, LINCOLN presents a profound and insightful meditation on a man few knew seen through the eyes of the President himself. DVD Features: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette; 16:9 Widescreen Format; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dark cloud over Lincoln:, April 4, 2006

By	Todd E. Newman (Valparaiso, IN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lincoln is probably one of the toughest individuals to grasp. Once you think you have him understood, something else about him comes out of the woodwork to make him more elusive.

Interestingly, this production allows us further insight to him in a unique, dark perspective at times. This production probably isn't correctly named as it's not about Lincoln in the complete form, but it takes a much darker, closeted approach to explaining the man.

I think many people were taken back a bit by this production and were expecting something lighter, more cheerful and triumphant about Lincoln but instead this film is the opposite. I can't say it was totally negative, it just offered strange, unusual insight and possibilities to this complex character. What this show tried to convey was just how some of Lincoln's motivations, considerations and mind state were developed from earlier boyhood years and dealing with depression.

I wasn't too keen on some of the considerations of Lincoln and possible suicidal tendencies. Unfortunately, this production focused a lot on negative things about Lincoln shading him in a dark shroud with shocking misery. It does offer interesting perspective, but the opinions stated are simply that. Opinions without fact. I know Lincoln had issues and had a lot of carry on his shoulders throughout life although I don't think he was so distraught, fearing and suicidal as this documentary portrays.

24 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly done, hard to follow garbage, January 30, 2006

By	Carmen (USA) - See all my reviews

Done in an MTV-like style, and accentuating the negative, this program will do little to give insight into Lincoln's greatness. In fact, you will come away thinking he was a loser. Mary Lincoln is similarly lambasted.

The documentary jumps back and forth with no apparent continuity or reason. In addition, many of the commentators are either openly hostile towards Lincoln, or are high-handed and eliteist.

Unwanted political/religious opinion from Gore Vidal also leaves one with a nasty taste in one's mouth. This should have been left on the cutting-room floor, having no place in this discussion.

Zero stars would be more fitting.

Get a copy of "A House Divided - Abraham and Mary Lincoln" from PBS - you will be better informed and genuinely touched.

Avoid this pap at all costs.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside story of President Lincoln, January 2, 2008

By	S. Odemis (VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think most people agree that Lincoln was one of the best presidents in American History, if not the best. This DVD show what was the driving force behind his success and the difficulties he faced. I watched this DVD more than once. It's very interesting.