The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Excellent - The Trial of the Chicago 7 review by GI

This courtroom drama is both intentionally timely and quite electrifying mainly due to the outstanding cast and performances. It recreates events from 1968 when various anti Vietnam War groups congregated in Chicago to demonstrate at the Democratic Party Convention. They were met by an aggressive police response and eight (this is whittled down to seven in the course of the story) leaders of the various groups were selected by the new Nixon administration for a show trial accused of conspiring to start a riot. The courtroom scenes are really good with Mark Rylance as the increasingly frustrated defence attorney, his frustration caused by the obvious bias of the trial judge played with vigour by Frank Langella. Some of the flashback scenes to the events are occasionally a little clunky when they are intermixed with future scenes of Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen in a rare but excellent dramatic role), one of the defendants, giving a talk to students. But overall this is a sharply told drama highlighting America's prickly relationship with social dissent despite their pretentions of democracy and freedom. The most disturbing scenes are of those involving Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the Black Panther leader, who is one of the defendants even though he wasn't even in Chicago at the time. Cast includes Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Keaton. An absorbing film, interesting, well told and one that plots a path between past events and current ones. Recommended.