Lincoln reviewed by Mark Kermode

No -- What I Said Was, 

for Me, with My Baggage,

that's what I found a way into.

Lincoln reviewed by Mark Kermode

"There is something Monumental about it, but 'monumental' in the sense of a statue, or in the sense of The Lincoln Memorial."

For Me, the key to what makes the film accessible is Tommy Lee Jones, the Thaddeus [Stevens] character, because  --

-- and I think it is important to understand this, people always talk about the biographical stuff that anyone brings to a film, and, in order for a film to work, you do have to find something with which you personally engage --

-- and of course, for Me, the thing with which I personally engage is The Story about the guy who's a hardline, belligerent radical, who discovers during the course of the drama, during the course of the historical story, that in order to get something done, he has to compromise in a way that will cause the people with whom he is surrounded to tell him that he is selling-out.

I think Tommy Lee Jones' performance is the centre of the film -- for Me, that's the character that you are interested in.

Now, clearly, I understand, as someone who has an interest in -- as you know, I have a ludicrous, student politic background, you know.... like everybody else....

No -- that's NOT like everybody else.

No, what I mean, is -- like any 50-Year Old old-leftie, I went through a period where it was like "No!, THESE are The Ideals, and This is...."-- so obviously, as you grow up, you realise that there is such as thing as Compromise --