With Awards Night less than two weeks away, just now historians across the country are beginning to question the authenticity of the film. While the film focuses on the last few years of the Civil War, Lincoln's second term and his eventual success at attempting to pass the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery, on February 5th, Rep. Joe Courtney from Connecticut said that the film "misrepresented the way his predecessors in the 1865 House of Representatives voted on the 13th Amendment banning slavery". According to Courtney, all four Connecticut representatives voted for the amendment, however the movie depicts two voting against it. I think he interpreted the 'misrepresentation' of the voting results as a negative reflection of the state's history. If a state barely agreed that slavery should be outlawed, it casts them in a bad light today because now there is almost an absolute agreement that it was wrong. He later he asked DreamWorks (the film's production company) for some form of correction because, according to CNN's Gene Seymour, he "merely wants props restored to his home state" and isn't out to "ruin anybody's chances [at winning an award]". I agree that the facts should be set straight, however I find it curious that despite the fact that the movie premiered to the public on October 8th, the error is just being brought up. To what extent does the Oscars being right around the corner have to do with it? Probably at least something.
I wonder worthy if this case is of a challenge. What do you think is more important: the authenticity of the film's historical account or the film's right to thematic artistic license? Do you think this was done on purpose or just because of a lack of research? The film did take a long time to be made and surely it had been thoroughly researched beforehand.
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