'United in Anger': Documentary explores history of AIDS fight ★★★

We've arrived at a rich and instructive political moment. The president and his adversaries continue to negotiate an uneasy driving lesson to avoid plunging off the fiscal cliff while saving face. Moviegoers are turning out in heartening numbers for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," which sacrifices chronological breadth (the film covers only a few months in the life of the 16th president) for a terrifically observed examination of Lincoln's political wiles, and how they were consistently underestimated by those who liked slavery just the way it was.

Michael Phillips

November 29, 2012