August 6, 2024
FILM: LOVER OF MEN: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
DIRECTED BY: SHAUN PETERSON
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
There’s a new documentary out that will no doubt be fodder for all sorts of debates about the supposed “agendas” the film industry, academia, and liberals are trying to spew out into the world. Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln is that film. It is a highly compelling and convincing documentary which suggests that the 19th Century President was in fact involved with a number of men in his lifetime. That statement alone will rankle many people’s sensitive feathers but the details provided and the research conducted should be exposed. Like any documentary it presents a specific side for sure, but it also boasts many interesting and persuasive arguments about who Lincoln was that ultimately had a ripple effect across history.
The film begins by tracing Lincoln’s early life and career. Through photos, paintings, and recreations, viewers get a good understanding of just how Lincoln developed into the powerful but humble leader he became. The most important contributions though are by numerous scholars and academics who have examined all of the available details concerning his personal life. These include Ph.D’s from some of the most respected universities in the U.S., including Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers, and Wellesley College. They discuss Lincoln’s letters, also recreated on screen, in which he writes lovingly to the various men with whom he reportedly slept with. These include Joshua Speed, said to be “the love of his life.” The researchers also discuss Lincoln’s lack of interest in women and his eventual marriage to Mary Todd, who is given her own short biography.
What makes the film also very interesting is the way it intelligently explores the history of same sex relationships from antiquity through today. The interviewees discuss an openness to such relationships before science and Freud began labeling everything thus creating a hierarchy of who they believed was on top in society and who should be considered “abnormal.” Included in the film are dozens of still photos which illustrate the strong physical connection many same sex people had during the 1800s and how “homo-social” worlds were the communities in which many people of the same sex found their emotional bonds. Lincoln, like many men in the century, would often sleep in the same bed with other men. Did this make him gay? Perhaps, they suggest, especially if we pair this with the various letters that were written between Lincoln and other men at the time.
Later sections of the film explore the suppression of queer history, often due to Christian ideas of sin and interpretations of the Bible. The film makes a strong case for how this led to much of the negative rhetoric about the LGBTQ community we’ve heard in the last hundred years or so. It’s easy to see the connection the filmmakers make between covering up Lincoln’s personal life with the banning of books today so as not to expose people to “undesirable” lifestyles and practices.
The arguments presented are very persuasive. There may be a bit much heavy-handedness though in the recreations of Lincoln’s relationships with other men. Young, good looking actors play the various men and show us what the intimacy might have looked like involving Lincoln. These scenes certainly support the arguments but may be providing a bit too many visual imaginings of the President’s personal life. At times, there is also noticeable hyperbole in statements used such as “Lincoln is worshipped by everyone. He’s our God” and the aforementioned “Speed was the love of his life.”
Still, this is a film that is important for it attempts to broaden our understanding of just who this great President was. Should we really care about his sexual orientation? Maybe not, but one of the interviewees makes a great point when they suggest that knowing someone like Lincoln might have had same sex relationships could help our understanding of the fluidity and diversity Untof sexuality and to not keep it hidden from our history.
Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln opens today in theaters.
FILM: LOVER OF MEN: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
DIRECTED BY: SHAUN PETERSON
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
There’s a new documentary out that will no doubt be fodder for all sorts of debates about the supposed “agendas” the film industry, academia, and liberals are trying to spew out into the world. Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln is that film. It is a highly compelling and convincing documentary which suggests that the 19th Century President was in fact involved with a number of men in his lifetime. That statement alone will rankle many people’s sensitive feathers but the details provided and the research conducted should be exposed. Like any documentary it presents a specific side for sure, but it also boasts many interesting and persuasive arguments about who Lincoln was that ultimately had a ripple effect across history.
The film begins by tracing Lincoln’s early life and career. Through photos, paintings, and recreations, viewers get a good understanding of just how Lincoln developed into the powerful but humble leader he became. The most important contributions though are by numerous scholars and academics who have examined all of the available details concerning his personal life. These include Ph.D’s from some of the most respected universities in the U.S., including Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers, and Wellesley College. They discuss Lincoln’s letters, also recreated on screen, in which he writes lovingly to the various men with whom he reportedly slept with. These include Joshua Speed, said to be “the love of his life.” The researchers also discuss Lincoln’s lack of interest in women and his eventual marriage to Mary Todd, who is given her own short biography.
What makes the film also very interesting is the way it intelligently explores the history of same sex relationships from antiquity through today. The interviewees discuss an openness to such relationships before science and Freud began labeling everything thus creating a hierarchy of who they believed was on top in society and who should be considered “abnormal.” Included in the film are dozens of still photos which illustrate the strong physical connection many same sex people had during the 1800s and how “homo-social” worlds were the communities in which many people of the same sex found their emotional bonds. Lincoln, like many men in the century, would often sleep in the same bed with other men. Did this make him gay? Perhaps, they suggest, especially if we pair this with the various letters that were written between Lincoln and other men at the time.
Later sections of the film explore the suppression of queer history, often due to Christian ideas of sin and interpretations of the Bible. The film makes a strong case for how this led to much of the negative rhetoric about the LGBTQ community we’ve heard in the last hundred years or so. It’s easy to see the connection the filmmakers make between covering up Lincoln’s personal life with the banning of books today so as not to expose people to “undesirable” lifestyles and practices.
The arguments presented are very persuasive. There may be a bit much heavy-handedness though in the recreations of Lincoln’s relationships with other men. Young, good looking actors play the various men and show us what the intimacy might have looked like involving Lincoln. These scenes certainly support the arguments but may be providing a bit too many visual imaginings of the President’s personal life. At times, there is also noticeable hyperbole in statements used such as “Lincoln is worshipped by everyone. He’s our God” and the aforementioned “Speed was the love of his life.”
Still, this is a film that is important for it attempts to broaden our understanding of just who this great President was. Should we really care about his sexual orientation? Maybe not, but one of the interviewees makes a great point when they suggest that knowing someone like Lincoln might have had same sex relationships could help our understanding of the fluidity and diversity Untof sexuality and to not keep it hidden from our history.
Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln opens today in theaters.