Herzog & Company, Scott Free Productions,
Tom Hanks, Regen Wilson, Billy Campbell, Jesse Johnson, Geraldine Hughes, Graham Beckel, Shawn Pyfrom, Greg Cooper, Andrew Collie, Jeremy Ambler, Joe Inscoe
This documentary, based on the book by Bill O’Reilly, tells the story of the conspiracy and the execution of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. This movie narrated by Tom Hanks, mixes the most accurate information about the events, as well as a stunning recreation of them.
There are basically two ways of doing a documentary. One is by telling the story, showing the information, interviewing people, and presenting photographs and data. The other is to act out the story with actors and deliver the story by acting it out. This docudrama, as Bill calls it, absolutely mixes the best of both worlds. Too much talking and narration, even by someone as fantastic as Tom Hanks, can really bog down and make the most exciting story boring. Likewise, if you try to recreate everything, it’s very easy to mix fiction into the story. The way they did this story is really a fantastic mix of both styles. This made it a very interesting story. But also, there is one more thing that added a lot to this film. The book insisted on verifying every fact. There are so many stories and anecdotes that are very hard to prove (and some that are easy to disprove). There are other events that were claimed to be true, but there was no way to absolutely verify it, as there were no other witnesses. Everything like that was left out of this story. Everything that is here is absolutely accurate. There is a special feature interview that discusses the problems in verifying some of the facts that had to be left out. Tom Hanks narration is fantastic, and limited, and the recreations are especially well done. It was clear the book was crafted very carefully with attention to every detail, and the film followed the same mantra, and this is guaranteed to be the most accurate and factual account of the death of Abraham Lincoln that you will ever see. The timing is great with last years Lincoln blockbuster. Watch that one, then follow it up with this one for “the rest of the story”. I gained a greater respect for both Lincoln, as well as O’Reilly and Hanks. Great job, everyone. Best documentary I’ve seen in a long, long time.
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