Chapter 9 of 10 · 3'15"
Spielberg believes in the country. Lines tell of people who go against "better judgment" and "do the right thing." One line says "some sort of a patriot," then "I am a patriot." Kushner says Lincoln shares "top billing" with the House. A motion only reaches a vote. Once up, a flag is for the people to "keep it up."
Someone Says I Am a Patriot
❝ Monologue · 5 lines They Cohere After Awful Sacrifice
❝ Monologue · 4 lines The amendment as cure
He stops the quarrel, then makes slavery the illness and the amendment the only cure.
Lincoln Shares Top Billing with the House
Spielberg says he believes in this country. Other lines want stories about people who do the right thing against advice and better judgment. One speaker says some sort of a patriot, then says he is one. Kushner says Lincoln shares top billing with the House. A motion only brings the 13th Amendment to a vote. Elsewhere, a flag is left for the people to keep up.
Spielberg says he believes in this country, and he always has. A following line wants stories about people who go "against all advice and against most everyone else's better judgment" and still "do the right thing." Another line says "some sort of a patriot, but I am a patriot." One House line rejects the abolition amendment. A later line says nothing of "human meaning or worth" is possible until slavery is cured and the war ends. A motion only brings the 13th Amendment "to a vote," then "So moved, so ordered." Nothing here shows the vote passing. What is "pushed to the fore," one voice says, is "a triumph of democracy." Kushner says Lincoln "shares top billing with the House of Representatives." Apart from that, "The part assigned to me is to raise the flag," and once up, "it'll be for the people to keep it up."
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“I'm sure that sounds like I'm this kind of, you know, idealist or some sort of a patriot, but I am a patriot.”
He mocks the patriot label for a second and then owns it, so the claim lands as a choice.
Informal
“Say all we done is show the world that democracy isn't chaos.”
It takes the charge that a loud people are chaos and answers that the noise is the democracy.
literary
“Mightn't that save at least the idea of democracy, to aspire to?”
The question asks only for the idea of democracy to survive, which makes the hope smaller and harder to refuse.
literary
“I can't accomplish a goddamn thing of any human meaning or worth until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilential war!”
Nothing else counts until slavery and the war are treated as the illness standing in the way.
Informal
“But he somehow thought if the American people can feel this man and feel what he was doing, they'll see what democracy is when it really works.”
He trusts feeling the man at work more than a lecture to show people what democracy looks like in action.
Neutral
“The part assigned to me is to raise the flag.”
A vast duty shrinks to one job, raising the flag, and the rest is handed to other people.
literary
Say all we done is show the world that democracy isn't chaos. That there is a great invisible strength in a people's union. Say we've shown that a people can endure awful sacrifice and yet cohere. Mightn't that save at least the idea of democracy, to aspire to? Eventually to become worthy of?
I can't listen to this anymore. I can't accomplish a goddamn thing of any human meaning or worth until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilential war! And whether any of you or anyone else knows it, I know I need this! This amendment is that cure!
Up next · 10peace the hard wayThe scene: Munich's Prayer for PeaceThe line says some sort of a patriot, but I am a patriot. Some sort of only means a kind of. The but claims the label. The next line adds that he is somewhat of an idealist, too.
No. Someone moves to bring the bill "to a vote," another voice seconds it, and the reply is "So moved, so ordered." That only puts the bill up for a vote. Nothing in these lines shows it passing.
Kushner says it took guts to make a film "in which Lincoln shares top billing with the House of Representatives." What gets "pushed to the fore" is not Lincoln's triumph but "a triumph of democracy."
"The part assigned to me is to raise the flag." Once it is up, "it'll be for the people to keep it up." One person raises it. The people are left to maintain it.
