The Better Angels (2014)
At an isolated log cabin in the harsh wilderness of Indiana circa 1817, the rhythms of love, tragedy, and the daily hardships of life on the developing frontier shaped one of our nation’s greatest heroes: Abraham Lincoln. Abe is a thoughtful and quiet boy who spends his days at the side of his beloved mother while learning to work the land from his stern father. When illness takes his mother, Abe's new guardian angel comes in the form of his new stepmother, who sees the potential in the boy and pushes for his further education.
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The greatest movie ever!
Purely Joyful Movie!
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One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The beauty of the film The Better Angels is in its innate sense of humility. Limited in scope with very minimal dialog delivered through understated performances, watching this film is a surprisingly moving experience that will resonate with the viewer long after the closing credits roll. I watched this film last evening and have not been able to get it out of my mind all day! Beautifully photographed in black and white that is at times stark and crisp and at other times dreamily soft, the actors are portrayed as both stoic and tenderly loving. Quite simply, this film is a masterpiece that understands the wisdom of less being much, much more! I believe The Better Angels belongs to the same rank as Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire and Ben Wheatley's A Field in England for its profound beauty. A must see!
This beautiful film really took me to that time and place. I enjoyed this movie more than any other I have seen lately. This thought provoking portrayal of Lincoln's boyhood is fresh. I have already read so much about Lincoln and seen films about him and thought this might be tired ground to cover. But, I was completely drawn in by the experience of this film. The subtlety of the piece is much appreciated. I work with children and I would like to show this film to elementary - high school students and get their impressions of the film. The way that childhood is captured here is lovely and meaningful. This story within a story is a gentle and welcome addition to films about a great American President.
"The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Abe Lincoln If writer-director A. J. Edwards wanted to show in his biopic, The Better Angels, the influence of angelic women on young Abe Lincoln, he succeeded. This minimalist, dialogue-spare depiction of Lincoln's early life in the woods of Indiana is rife with beautiful shots of trees and sunlight, not to mention a pristine cabin, but mostly it is filled with the love and direction given by Nancy (Brit Marling) and Sarah Lincoln (Diane Kruger).Not much to do out there in the frontier but cut wood and think about ways to be a better human being. While the women chat with Abe about life, Tom Lincoln (Jason Clarke), his dad, contributes a considerable amount to Abe's tough mindedness, largely by testing Abe's patience with dad's harsh discipline.While this less-than-epic activity occurs, it is encased in gorgeous photography, black and white crisp, with light streaming through tall trees, frequently at low angle to emphasize the child's point of view. You could almost say it's a copy of Terrence Malick's work, and you'd be right because the ethereal cinematography of that master (Tree of Life, Badlands, for example) no doubt influenced Edwards, whose film is produced by Malick and with whom he has worked.On the other hand, the poetic images could be off putting for those who accuse Malick of being pretentious or just interested in painting rather than telling a story. I go where a director wants to take me—in this case, to a lyrical feeling about the early life of an immortalized leader.Although The Better Angels is mostly impressionism, symbolic shots couched in terse language, be it by actors or voice-over, the picture of young Abe up to his rural schooling seems spot on for the intense, brilliant, iconic president we have come to know. I'm impressed."All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother" Abe Lincoln
Not really, especially if you watched this without having a clue who the young boy is supposed to be. It could be just any story about any young boy growing up. But it's not. It's young Abe Lincoln, something you could completely miss, like I did. Which happens because I do watch movies without reading up on them. So while it was obvious this was going to be a black and white film, I didn't know what it was about. It played at the Festival in Berlin, which does not always says a lot about the quality of the movie itself, but I tried.And I wasn't disappointed by the story of this boy. A story that is interesting in itself, but would not allow any conclusions about where this boy would go. Something people obviously did ask the director too, who was present at the screening. A very interesting stylised form, of a story of a man/boy you might not have heard/read yet ...