I recently watched this film, thinking I had started it and stopped previously. Upon finishing the film (which admittedly, I at times struggled to connect with and follow), I was struck by our current access to once great things, and our lack of willingness to rise to think truly great thoughts.

Specifically, toward the end (spoilers? is that even a thing with Lincoln's life and film?), when Lincoln said one of his greatest dreams was to walk the Holy Land where David and Solomon had walked. What stood out to me was the relative ease with which ordinary citizens can now likely have that very experience. And despite the access and opportunity, how little many of us would live up to the greatness it may well entail.

Perhaps it is a sign of my age (and indeed, the film's impact), that I would in my heart wax eloquently within myself of such great and terrible truths. And it is not lost on me, in this skeptical age, that much of what was being presented--even as it portends to be the most intimate or accurate truth--is likely some form of a revisionist view of history. Because who can truly know? But in the end, such an elevation of thought is still a worthy goal of this medium so many of us love.

I share all this because, upon coming here to "finally" rate this film, I was presented with my previous rating from a long forgotten previous time in my life. And it has, on what is a second viewing unbeknownst to me, earned a far more favorable rating than before. Great aspirations indeed.