THE BETTER ANGELS – The Review

Fully engrossed, I became, in this hauntingly beautiful, rare telling of the formative history behind one of our nation’s greatest men in history. So much of what we learn in school about Abraham Lincoln focuses on his accomplishments as our country’s 16th President. Rightfully so, but as children in school, would it not make sense to also learn about how these great men and women grew up? Childhood experience is crucial to the development of character, which is paramount to THE BETTER ANGELS, a film that introduces the audience to a much younger Lincoln than we’re typically accustomed.

THE BETTER ANGELS illustrates the difficulties Lincoln endured as a child, growing up poor and secluded from anyone but his small family in the remote Indiana woods of 1817. Tragedy strikes his family, hard lessons are learned, but Lincoln evolves on screen before us in raw, subtle form. His father (Jason Clarke) loves him, but its an old world tough love kind of relationship, one that surely strengthens Lincoln’s backbone, but its the women in his life, played by Diane Kruger and Brit Marling, that make a specific imprint in his moral character.

Braydon Denney portrays the young Lincoln with palpable emotional restraint, showcasing a more internal struggle within the character that supersedes the hardships of his external environment. Other men in his life, older than he but still his contemporaries, act as supporting influences, but his mother and step mother ultimately share responsibility for keeping his intellect alive and helping make his way to getting a school house education. THE BETTER ANGELS is a film of a philosophical nature, a film intent on provoking thought, a process Lincoln clearly spent his life pursuing.

Writer and director A.J. Edwards makes his feature film debut with THE BETTER ANGELS. The film is produced by Terrence Malick, whose films have clearly had a strong influence on Edwards’ style and vision. Presented in black and white, Edwards paints an entire landscape of achromatic visuals that stand on their own as photographic gems. On the surface, it may seem Edwards fills gaps in dialogue with beautifully sculpted shots, but in fact these visual interludes serve to support the reflective, contemplative nature of Lincoln’s boyhood.

THE BETTER ANGELS is saturated with visual and musical beauty. The score transports the viewer into another time and place, some place that straddles the wild and untamed with the enlightened. Simultaneously, the cinematography allows the viewer to peer into another plane of historical existence, as thought depicting real events, but through the lens of a dreamer, an ethereal plane of meditation that feels limitless but also dangerous. Anyone familiar with Malick’s work will undoubtedly notice the influence on Edwards’ pacing and visual storytelling, but that all serves to enhance this revealing exploration of circumstances that gave of arguably the greatest President of the United States.

Edwards has made a small, intimate film with great care and passion. This is a film that will appeal more to the historian and philosopher than the average moviegoer seeking entertainment. THE BETTER ANGELS is a period film, but you will not get LAST OF THE MOHICANS (as great a film as that is) or another Civil War film. Here you get raw human emotion, a struggle to survive in realistic form, and the impossibly daunting endeavor of becoming a man of greatness from the depths of poverty. THE BETTER ANGELS is top notch stage play material brought vividly to life by the magic of motion picture arts, hones to a level of fine arts and crafted with a philosopher’s mind.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars