Lincoln

I finally got around to seeing Lincoln, which I missed when it was in theatres (I don't get to a lot of movies lately). I was overcome by a few scenes in particular.

President and Mrs. Lincoln argued bitterly and mourned separately. Their son had died in his childhood three years before. And this husband and wife did not understand each other.

Mr. Lincoln says this to his broken wife--the wife who nearly lost her mind with the pain of it all:
"I couldn't tolerate you grieving so for Willy because I couldn't tolerate it in myself--though I wanted to, Mary. I wanted to crawl under earth. Into the vault with his coffin. And I still do--every day I do. Don't speak to me about grief."

And there is another scene in which the bereaved father--our President Lincoln--finds his other young son asleep on the floor with a picture of his dead brother beside him. And that father curls next to him on the floor for a moment and then tenderly carries the boy to bed.

And finally, we see the utter anguish on the faces of this man's wife and young son when they learn that their principled, broken, exhausted man--the man dearest to them--has been struck down...

The movie is about emancipation. The Civil War.

But, these scenes gripped me most (my history teacher husband would perhaps be sorely disappointed in me). Because grief is so very different in people. BUT it breaks the heart--no matter what.