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I thought the movie was very well done. One of the best Civil War era movies out there. My one concern was that they had a difficult time really demonstrating the absolute panic and confusion in Washington immediately following the assassination. It might have made Stanton a more sympathetic character.
Mark
It is very hard to imagine a sympathetic Stanton. Stanton was wary of Lincoln, and for all his theatrical grieving ("Now he belongs to the ages") he and the Radical Republicans were initially very pleased to have Andrew Johnson instead of the high-minded Lincoln with his charity prattle and his eagerness to bring the South back into the family. In his early months Johnson came across as a firebrand of vengeance—for example, hanging Mrs. Surratt and overruling her habeas corpus writ. And how quickly Stanton turned on the new President when Johnson started to show some Lincolnesque leniency.