‘Lincoln’s Dilemma’ Illuminates Honest Abe’s Moment, and Ours: TV Review
variety.comDaniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThe new documentary series “Lincoln’s Dilemma” begins and ends outside of Abraham Lincoln’s era — opening with footage of the siege on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and concluding only weeks later, with the journalist Jelani Cobb’s observation that the military “occupied” Washington to keep Joe Biden safe at his inauguration.
But the point this series makes is that, indeed, we’re hardly outside Lincoln’s moment at all — that the tenuousness and the peril of his era persist, as does the fundamentally unresolved question of race in this country.Directed by Jacqueline Olive and Barak Goodman and executive produced by, among others, former HBO chief Richard Plepler, “Lincoln’s Dilemma” uses various techniques to illustrate the life and legacy of the 16th president, and the problems he faced while in office.
Among these are readings of Lincoln’s and Frederick Douglass’ words (by Bill Camp and Leslie Odom Jr., respectively), narration (by Jeffrey Wright), and the introduction of various historians.
All work well, though this viewer found the context and insight added by the present-day commentators to be of unusually high value — in particular because the circle is notably inclusive, with Black historians and intellectuals providing trenchant insights into attitudes on race in Lincoln’s moment, and ours.
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