The Better Angels

2014 • 94 minutes

About this movie

At an isolated log cabin in the harsh wilderness of Indiana circa 1817, the rhythms of love, tragedy, and the daily hardships of life on the developing frontier shaped one of our nation’s greatest heroes: Abraham Lincoln. Using glorious black and white cinematography to conjure an America where the land was raw, The Better Angels sheds new light on the formative years of the future president and the two women who molded him into one of the most revered men in American history. Based on 19th-century interviews with Lincoln's family members, The Better Angels is a beautiful, insightful, and brilliantly composed feature debut from producer Terrence Malick's longtime protégé, A.J. Edwards.

Ratings and reviews

This is the worst film I have ever seen. In the first place, most of the dialogue was unintelligible. My husband came out of the movie thinking he was losing his hearing, and my daughter-in-law, for whom English is a second language, thought she had struck a language barrier. I thought everyone mumbled. There wasn't much conversation or action to begin with, so this was a serious impediment. I am familiar with the basics of Lincoln's childhood, so I understood some of the allusions to the illness that preceded Lincoln's mother's death. For someone with no background, however, it would be confusing and mysterious, as it was for my daughter-in-law. Many scenes came across as jumbled nightmares from a black-and-white horror movie, with few words of dialogue to explain what was happening. The most serious fault is that the movie is ostensibly about the development of Lincoln's character, but it conveys virtually nothing of his personality. He comes across as wooden and detached, revealing no hint of the evolution of the boy who would one day become a courageous and beloved president.

My daughter McKenzie plays in this movie and I loved watching this movie ......Great actors an a most enjoyable experience for McKenzie Blankenship