Directed by: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michael Keaton, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, Alex Sharp
What makes The Trial of the Chicago 7 special is how it resonates in today's political climate. The Chicago 7 were tried and convicted in 1969 for inciting riots outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Originally, it was the Chicago 8, but Black Panter Bobby Seale's (Abdul-Mateen II) case was declared a mistrial after Judge Hoffman (Langella) ordered him bound and gagged, causing lead prosecutor Richard Schultz (Levitt) to request a sidebar to point out this flagrant mistreatment of Seale. Judge Hoffman, no relation to defendant Abbie Hoffman (Cohen), displays an almost unprecedented scorn for the defendants; and whose rulings made the convictions easy to overturn on appeal.
Writer-director Sorkin does not make the defendants easy to like. Hoffman and cohort Jerry Rubin (Strong) continually antagonize the judge with outbursts and demonstrations, including one day wearing judge's robes. When ordered to take them off, Hoffman and Rubin have police uniforms on underneath. Defendants' attorney William Kunstler (Rylance-brilliant) is eventually rung up on 24 counts of contempt of court as he displays his overt frustration with the judge. Seale's tab is ten counts before his mistrial verdict, and the rest mostly follow in lockstep. These are protesters after all.
The most rational of the Chicago 7, it appears, is Tom Hayden (Redmayne), the future California senator and husband of Jane Fonda who intuits he won't be able to force much change from a prison cell. He and Hoffman approach protest in dissimilar ways, but they respect each other, as revealed in a critical scene in which Hayden is recorded alleging inciting violence. It is easy to draw comparisons to the Black Lives Matter movement and how some segments of society view it with disdain while others support it. Protest is a fundamental right in the United States. In the late 1960's, with images of the Vietnam War beamed into everyone's living room, the protest against the war was unprecedented. Were the protests popular? Sometimes, and other times they were received with scorn. It comes with the territory. However, there is a thin line between peaceful protest and violence.
Perhaps the opposition to the protesters on trial is seen as a microcosm in Judge Julius Hoffman, who can barely conceal his dislike for the defendants. His rulings, including having Seale bound and gagged in front of the world, causes even the prosecution to scratch its head. When former Attorney General Ramsey Clark (Keaton) is called to testify, his testimony is barred from being heard by the jury. As Clark tells Kunstler, "get ready for the appeal," knowing full well the defendants' fate is sealed. In a dialogue exchange which alludes to current events, Clark informs the prosecution that he can disclose a conversation he had with then-President Lyndon Johnson because "the President is not my client," Someone ought to tell the current president that. Or the current attorney general while we're at it.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 reflects the gray area of jurisprudence and ultimately human nature, which makes it such juicy watching. The actors shine as people who are allowed to show various dimensions and have personalities. Abbie Hoffman isn't shown as perpetually unhinged, nor is Hayden seen as simply an upright citizen. Sorkin's dialogue is peppy and alive, and not simple verbal volleyball matches which pepper some of Sorkin's work. The final scene prior to the epilogue is a powerful payoff and a reminder of why the protesters were in Chicago in the first place.
No comments:
Post a Comment