‘ Trial of the Chicago 7’ is a period piece that resonates
Sorkin and cast bring wit to timely true story
Aaron Sorkin and a star-filled cast bring tumult of the 1960s counterculture to life.
Aaron Sorkin’s superb “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is a period piece but also a piece for multiple periods: The drama takes place in the ’60s, has the rousing flavor of a ’ 90s popcorn thriller (like, say, the Sorkin-penned “A Few Good Men”) and also feels relevant and urgent in 2020.
Featuring a stellar cast, “Chicago 7” ( ★★★½; rated R; in select theaters and streaming Oct. 16 on Netflix) takes audiences back to the tumultuous late
’60s, where Vietnam and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were the cultural sparks that helped ignite a violent clash between Chicago police and protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Written and directed by Sorkin in his inimitable style, the story fleshes out the characters blamed by the government for that bloody event and examines a period of rancor between the people and the state that reflects our own divided times.
“The whole world is watching!” chants the crowd gathered in 1969 outside the courtroom building where eight men – including “Yippies” Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), Democratic student activists Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), and Black Panther party head Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) – are charged with conspiracy to incite a riot by President Richard Nixon’s new Justice Department.
Each character gets his own opening introduction, which is key to keeping them all straight when the very obviously political trial begins – though there are ideological differences even among the defendants, as Tom and Abbie come to words often over their beliefs about the legal process. (Tom argues for capturing electoral power, while Abbie’s more of a revolutionary). Bobby, who was only in Chicago for four hours on the fateful day, insists he was a Black guy thrown in to “scare” the jury, though Judge Julius Hoffman (a fantastic Frank Langella) won’t let Bobby represent himself when his lawyer is in the hospital.
Sorkin’s second outing as director is a more confident and well-executed affair than his first, the solid “Molly’s Game,” and he’s interspersed real black-andwhite footage of the riots with his filmed versions to capture a visceral authenticity that’s eerily reminiscent of the civil unrest we’ve been watching on the news the last few months.
The courtroom and legal-eagle stuff, however, is where he truly shines as an all-around filmmaker. That snappy repartee and witty zingers folks loved from “The West Wing” and “The Newsroom” are here in spades, often involving Cohen. “Mr. Hoffman, are you familiar with contempt of court?” the supremely unqualified judge levels at Abbie. His retort: “It’s practically a religion for me, sir.”
There’s enough outstanding acting going on that audiences will most likely come away with different favorites. Abbie and Jerry, who teaches people how to make Molotov cocktails and cherry bombs, are the resident comic relief, though there’s a definite depth and passion to their righteous cause that are all Cohen and Strong. (And if you’re familiar only with Cohen’s comedy bits and “Borat,” there’s a scene with Redmayne that showcases his considerable dramatic chops.)
Abdul-Mateen, who just won an Emmy for “Watchmen,” deserves some serious Oscar consideration as Bobby, a man discriminated against pretty much every time he stands up. Mark Rylance does his best work since his Oscar-winning “Bridge of Spies” turn as quiet but furious defense attorney William Kunstler, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is effective as federal prosecutor Richard Schultz and Michael Keaton is delightful dropping in for only a couple scenes yet almost hijacks the whole shebang as former attorney general Ramsey Clark.
While character development is a bit of an issue with so many personalities rioting, arguing and bantering, it doesn’t impede the thought-provoking nature of “Chicago 7” or parallels that Sorkin draws between the ’60s and now. The filmmaker crafts an entertaining, immersive and ultimately optimistic spectacle that never forgets that humanity should always trump the system.