Review: The Trial of the Chicago 7

 

    Hello, Everybody! Today I'm going to review Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7! Aaron Sorkin is one of the most talented screenwriters working in Hollywood today and he's my favorite screenwriter ever!  

Following his directorial debut with Molly's Game starring Jessica Chastain, Sorkin directed his second feature, a film about 7 anti-war activists + Black Panther Party leader, Bobby Seale being put on trial for protesting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Their trial sparked controversy and divided a nation in terms of undermining the U.S. Government.  The trail became a historical moment in 1969. 

The movie was originally going to be released in theaters by Paramount Pictures, but due to the uncertainty of its release, it was given to Netflix. 

I just loved how every cast member chewed every scene! Particularly, Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman was quite the performance. The British actor reduces the archetype of all of the iconic characters that he has played over the years by justifying the outcome and grows of his cartoonish caricature. Both him and Jeremy Strong's character, Jerry Rubin by playing the courtroom the laughs knowing that the criminal justice system is a joke, much like how our current system is right now. 

Memorable performances also included Frank Langella as Judge Julius Hoffman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Richard Schultz, a morally-conflicted assistant prosecutor and Mark Rylance as the heroic defense lawyer, William Kunstler. Not to mention recent Emmy winner, Yahya Abdul Mateen II's brilliant performance as Bobby Seale, with one memorable sequence of the judge making a troubling decision to bound and gag Seale after he protested the absence of his lawyer numerous times. Cohen is the real star of the show!

Sorkin knows the rules of the courtroom and he plays that to his advantage like a pro. And to think, Steven Spielberg was originally wanted to direct, but he ended up doing "The Post" instead. While it's not a deep dive into the "Chicago 7" drama,  it's a crowd-pleasing movie with echoes of our recent current events.

I just love the brilliant opening scene/montage. You're introduced to the people who are going to be on trial and then speeds it up and dives right into the protests and then the trial happens for the next 2 hours with flashbacks to fill in the gaps.  His script is both economical and wordy and he plays it safe in a very large scale portrait of a trial. After years of writing for other directors and being a showrunner, he becomes a respected filmmaker in his own right.

5/5!

Give this a watch and let me know what you think in the comments below!