The Trial of the Chicago Seven 2020
I have always known there were riots at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, but never knew any real details. Once this Netflix movie, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, started getting raves, I knew I wanted to see it. It is a little disappointing that some of the main actors are British and they sort of struggle with their accents, but they are good actors (Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, and Alex Sharp), so they still add more than they take. For the most part the movie follows the trial, which had never been pursued by Lyndon Johnson’s administration, but became a priority once Nixon was in office. It was a big show trial, not just because of the political motivations of prosecuting it, but the defendants were all protest leaders accustomed to irreverence and speaking out, and who used the trial to protest the war in Vietnam, injustice, racism, and government overreach. The trial, with eight defendants originally, dragged on for five months, so that is compressed into the length of the movie, plus flashbacks to things that happened and meetings out of court. Because it is a real event, the courtroom drama is more subdued and unwieldy than Sorkin’s A Few Good Men which I had watched shortly before seeing this. I miss that razor sharp writing, but the trial still provides drama, outrage, and comedy, even if it doesn’t work as well in a movie.
The movie is being lauded for its relevance with current events, released after the 2020 round of Black Lives Matter protests (and the heavy handed government response) and showing unequal treatment of the one black defendant. But by the time I watched, the relevance was a little different, with the riots and incitement to violence similar to the Trump-led riots in January 2021 and his second impeachment trial. At least nobody died in the 1968 riots, but it seems likely to ultimately be swept under the rug as well, like offsetting penalties with no impact on the game’s outcome.
The actors are all pretty good, though Jerry Rubin seems a little cartoonish (originally to be played by Seth Rogen). The judge is played perfectly by Frank Langella who masterfully captures the frustration, anger, and vindictiveness of the judge who ran a 5-month mistrial. Cohen is very good as Abbie Hoffman, capturing the silliness, outrage, and ultimately the seriousness of that counterculture legend. Michael Keaton is very good delivering Sorkin’s sizzling writing in his few scenes. Mark Rylance as defense attorney William Kuntsler is good as he tries to deal with a hostile judge and a squabbling group of clients (and a challenging non-client). There are a lot of characters, and Sorkin does a good job of keeping them straight, but there may be too much material to try to corral into two hours. While the riots and the trial are famous (or infamous), they didn’t seem to have much of an impact, so it seems like watching a dated political argument, even if we still argue about a few of the same things. I enjoyed watching it, the story, characters, and performances are all good, and I could probably watch it again, but it feels a little clumsy (as was the original trial in many ways) and antiquated.
Written: 13 Feb 2021