Chuang, Che-Kuang
In Feb. 22 2012, the Oscar prized director Steven
Spielberg’s latest work “Lincoln” was released. Everyone was looking forward
this master piece would win one more Oscar Award for Steven, but in the end it
was defeated by the other master piece “The life of Pi” directed by Chinese
director Ang Lee. However, this doesn’t diminish the greatness of this great movie.
Not like other War movies which mostly focus
on describing the gallantry of war heroes and the grandiose scenes of battles, Steven
Spielberg used a lot of plots to delineate the inside struggle and contradiction
of Abraham Lincoln. And the actor Daniel Day-Lewis who plays the role of “Lincoln”
has perfectly expressed the witty, humor and decisiveness of this one of the
greatest presidents in the U.S history.
The story begins in the fourth year of U.S
Civil War when the southern army was exhausted and the victory of the north was
about to come. However, Lincoln knew that if the slavery was not forbidden,
things would not change. The color people would still enslave and couldn’t get any
protection from the U.S constitution. Therefore he decided to pass the 13
amendment of United Constitution, which he wasn’t able to do 1 year ago.
However, there was a struggle in his mind. At the beginning of the civil war he
had said that the conflict between north and south was due to the slavery. Once
the slavery end, the war would be over, too - that was why people supported the
13 amendment. But if the south and north compromise before the proposed law
pass, people would not have enough motivation to support the 13 amendment. Therefore
he had to postpone the compromise. On the other hand, to postpone the
compromise means to postpone the peace to come. It was also violate his conscience
if the war keeps going on and causes thousands of people die. He had to make a tough
decision – the best decision for his country, his people and his beliefs.
According to the movie, in order to
postpone the committee Lincoln asked general Ulysses Grant to receive those
southern envoys and used the diplomatic language to put off the compromised
conference. In the same time, he asked the secretary of state, William Henry
Seward to persuade the opposition political party to support this proposed law;
not through bribing, but through offering some official position. In the January 31, 1865, with the support of
people and God’s witness, the 13 amendment finally passed.
Maybe it didn’t win with glory, even a little bit tricky, but it is still the
greatest law in human history. Although Lincoln used some tricks to make this
proposed law pass, but he did not feel guilty to his country, to his people and
most importantly, to God.
In conclusion, it is a movie about decision,
sacrifice and conscience; a question about will people sacrifice personal
benefits to pursue those noble sentiments and esteem morality. Lincoln did, and
the American also did. After the 13 amendment has passed for two hundred years,
Black Obama becomes the first black president of United State. As he said, the
thing which makes this country great is not its wealth, its powerful military
and its technology, but its belief which written in the Virginia Declaration of Rights: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal”.
Note01-這篇文章是像寫報告一樣，一邊回憶電影內容，一邊上網查證，最後組織出來的文章。我覺得這樣的寫法對我蠻有幫助。
Note02-這篇文章也是我"最隨心所欲"撰寫的文章。不同於瞎扯的TOEFL作文與SOP的嚴謹寫法，這篇文章是至今最能直接從"我想"變"我寫"的作文，因此我覺得它是目前最好的。
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