Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

loveydoveyy My first opinion for this movie is that it has beautiful cinematography by having the screen move in different directions and having a variety of shots. Even though it is in black and white, I find that the movie captures the lighting and darkness really well. The sounds effects for the movie is really amplified for example the crunching of the leaves or birds chirping, likewise for the soundtrack it made the movie more calming and beautiful with the violin or piano playing. The movie didn't have a lot of dialogue beside the narrator's voice of Abraham. It didn't sound like him either since it was more southern and not as high pitched. A better representation of Abraham's voice could be Daniel Day-Lewis's in Spielberg's Lincoln (2012) which is more high-pitched. I also find that the movie also explains Abraham Lincoln's life and his relationships with his family and friends very accurately, which the movie centers more on the interactions with his mother, step mother, and father. The actor that played Abraham didn't seem to show much emotions or show any personality traits throughout the movie for example, there was a lot of scenes that just focuses on his face with no emotions. Overall, I don't usually watch a black and white movie however, I enjoyed watching this since it was entertaining and wasn't dull or tedious to watch.

Kelsey Wade The Better Angels is a one of kind film, in that it is about Abraham Lincoln's very early life. The film covers three very formative years for Lincoln. From my previous knowledge I think that this film is very accurate and the information is directly from Lincoln's cousin so I would say the facts are accurate. Also, I think the film accurately depicts the time period with the activities that they are doing in the film, the look of the house, and wilderness around them. This film is the only film on Lincoln that really shows a big part of his childhood in detail. Braydon Denney did an excellent job of playing Abraham Lincoln. He got his shy but playful personality down perfectly. I enjoyed the film as a whole because of the cinematography. All of the shots in this film were very beautiful and the use of nature throughout really caught my attention. But, there wasn't much dialog throughout the movie and because of this, I felt like I got a lot of the idea of the movie just from the trailer. Also, the film moved pretty slowly because it didn't have many big events throughout it, just little details. In The Better Angels, there are many little events and details that show Abraham Lincoln's personality and what impacted him to be the man he became. Throughout the entire film Lincoln's backwoodsman feel is shown through the way he lived and the tough times for him in the film. Compared to other films I have seen on Lincoln, I think this film portrayed Lincoln's close relationships with his mother and stepmother the best. They really tried to capture Lincoln's pain when his mother died in this film and I think they did a great job of it. It was very interesting to see Abraham in a church as a young child because I have not seen this in any other films that included Lincoln. It was very interesting to see how honest he was throughout the film. The film even touched on Lincoln's background in wrestling. In my opinion, the most powerful part of the film was when Lincoln is watching the slaves walk by attached to chains. I also loved how much it showed his mother and stepmother believing in him and his abilities. Abraham Lincoln as shown in this film, had many people who thought he was amazing and knew he was capable of great things at a young age. His stepmother knew he needed schooling and once he started, even his teacher believed in his abilities. Overall, The Better Angels really showed little events that shaped Lincoln into the man he became and gave the viewer a good understanding of how Abraham Lincoln's childhood was.

danielmizzlemoss What is so immediately intoxicating about this film is the cinematography. From the first frame you are pulled into the experience as viscerally as moving image can manage. Albeit this is not, per se, immediate. The film actually begins with an extended introduction to the score or, more specifically, the leitmotif that will accompany you throughout much of the trajectory. This brings me to the main idea: this piece is ahistorical in many ways. Rather than a score befitting the time period, you make your acquaintance with a modern sounding slightly more minimal arc of sounds which speak more to the mood of the film than to anything aimed at a period drama. A fortiori, the decision to begin the film with this extended immersion into music—a medium beautifully unconstrained by the more limited potential of physical form is a titillating foreshadowing of what the director is after here. This movie intends to touch only on themes that span the course of human history (and perhaps transcend it entirely given the religious connotations often present (similar to The Tree of Life in that regard)) through the presentation of mood, love, loss, family, discipline, isolation, friendship, freedom etc. What makes this so successful is not the scope alone. Any film can be ambitious and fall flat but this endeavor found it's successful portrayal of the universal through specific attention to the particular (much as poetry does (and much as The Tree of Life did)). There is great attention to detail in this film and all of the powerful themes conveyed here are tightly woven into the fabric of a very historically particular life and time. This is what is so magical about The Better Angels. It is ambitiously universal in everything it intends to convey and it does so through a radical focus on the absolutely particular. This is a film about Abraham Lincoln's childhood and that is what you see... But!– You never even hear his name. To an outsider, uninitiated into American Culture and History, it would be the same experience. The detail is so zoomed in that only the most fundamental elements of the life and character portrayed here can be seen. The details that one speaks of in a history class are nowhere to be found. This film pulls you to two opposite ends of an essential spectrum of human knowledge. On one end: abstraction to the universal and on the other: absolute particularity. It is the way that the former permeates the latter that makes this film an exceptional work of cinema. Roger Ebert correctly daubed it: "a genuine American art film", and it is indeed that and yet more. This more, on it's own, however is insufficient. Being a genuine American film alone is insufficient. Combining the two such that the universal emerges from the details and routines of an American woodland childhood is what strikes gold. The message and medium chosen were paired together exquisitely and make for an immersive experience of cinematic poetry and thematic meditation. The Better Angels is indeed utterly American, and yet wholly universal all at once. I hope this enhances your experiences of it.Thanks. -DMp.s. I wrote this in an inspired frenzy so please excuse any potential iPhone typos and read my roving ramblings charitably. Cheers! p.p.s. It's quite beautiful that this is a film which defies typical cinematic structure so thoroughly that I am at a loss for how one could even potentially construct a description capable of containing spoilers. I don't think it can be done.

Ikepickerel .....is the word that came to mind numerous times throughout the film, and captain Castile reviewed it best. I would add that although I thought I had a grasp of pioneer living, I now know I didn't have a clue! I kept relating all the hardships shown in that era juxtaposed to how pampered we live today, and yet have the gall to complain about someone taking our parking spot! We owe it to ourselves to watch this wonderful snapshot, if not for the Lincoln history, then for the lesson learned/relearned of how wonderfully blessed we are to live in this time of aplenty, and maybe stand up for right and wrong, and try to maintain a grip on the America we grew up with!