'Lincoln' Factual Flaw: Conn Congressman Finds Mistake Before Oscars 2013
A Republican Congressman who recently watched the film Lincoln said Tuesday he found a factual error in the movie about President Abraham Lincoln's political struggle to end slavery, CBS News reported.
Joe Courtney watched the Steven Spielberg-directed film over the weekend and was shocked that the movie included a scene where two Connecticut congressmen voted against the 13th amendment to the Constitution outlawing slavery.
"'Wow. Connecticut voted against abolishing slavery?"' Courtney remembered hearing audience members ask. "I obviously had the same reaction. It was really bugging me."
The Connecticut congressman said Internet research confirmed that the film was historically inaccurate, and when he asked the Congressional Research Service to further investigate the matter, it reported that all four Connecticut congressmen indeed supported the amendment back in January 1865.
The news report noted that Dreamworks Pictures, the production company behind Lincoln, did not respond to an email on Tuesday seeking comment on the matter.
Courtney sent a letter to Spielberg asking for the film to be corrected before being released on DVD. He also included a tally of the 1865 vote by the state's congressional delegation, proving that Connecticut supported the emancipation of blacks.
"How could congressmen from Connecticut - a state that supported President Lincoln and lost thousands of her sons fighting against slavery on the Union side of the Civil War - have been on the wrong side of history?" he said in his letter.
Lincoln is nominated for 13 awards at the Academy Awards, which will air live on Feb. 24. In the category of Best Picture, it is up against Argo, Silver Lining Playbook , Life of Pie, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour. Out of all the nominees in the category, Lincoln grossed the most in the box office with $171 million. The number is based on how much a movie earned in theaters in the U.S. week-by-week since it opened. Click here for a full list of Academy Awards nominees and predictions.
