The Better Angels is a 2014 American biographical drama-historical film about United States President Abraham Lincoln's formative years. It was written and directed by A. J. Edwards.
The film had its premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It was subsequently screened in the Panorama program at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival on February 8, 2014.
In March 2014, Amplify acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on November 7, 2014.
Plot
The story of Abraham Lincoln's childhood, his upbringing in Indiana, and the hardships and tragedies that made him the man he was.
Cast
- Diane Kruger as Sarah Lincoln
- Jason Clarke as Thomas Lincoln
- Brit Marling as Nancy Lincoln
- Wes Bentley as Mr. Crawford
- Braydon Denney as Abe (Young Abraham Lincoln)
- Cameron Mitchell Williams as Dennis Hanks
Reception
The Better Angels received mixed reviews from critics. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying it's "a beautiful, arty, very Malick-influenced evocation of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood." Katie Hasty of HitFix praised the film by saying it is "a lushly conceived, exhaustively realized debut feature that'd be pretty formidable stuff coming from a more practised filmmaker â€" and derided in some quarters as a self-impressed knock-off." Rodrigo Perez in his Indiewire review said the movie focuses "on mood, nature, divinity and celestial atmosphere" rather than story.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 39 percent, based on reviews from 41 critics, 16 of which were positive. According to the website, the film is "Malick-inspired but not as inspired as Malick, The Better Angels muffles an interesting idea under ponderous execution."
References
External links
- The Better Angels at the Internet Movie Database
- The Better Angels at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Better Angels
