We deserve a truly cinematic retelling of the assassination scene! Imagine how Spielberg genius could have pulled that off! It was a great story of how he was shot in the theater, how Boothe leaped down and shouted at people.. Spielberg could have made a masterpiece of an assassination scene with that material. Its a crying shame we will never get to see that on film.
AH WELL, i guess Spike Lee's Malcolm X will still reign supreme as the best and most authentic assassination scene on film.
The details of Lincoln's assassination are so well known that any depiction is likely to feel hackneyed. Not showing the assassination was one of the film's better decisions. In fact, the film could and even should have ended with the scene in which Lincoln was leaving for the theater, leaving his gloves behind.
Often in film an omission is the more powerful choice.
Including that moment in this film, which is more about the 13th amendment than it is a biography of Lincoln himself, would be terribly out of place and removed the audience from what this movie really is. As the film was winding down, I was getting really uncomfortable thinking that they would show his assassination, just because. The way it was addressed in the film was perfect (though, I'm not sure how historically accurate).