The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, R)

I also had time to get to my sixth Best Picture nominee this week. Honestly, there hasn’t been a bad one in the bunch so far. Usually, there’s at least one on the list that either doesn’t click with me or I actively dislike, but all of the six I’ve watched have been solid. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is an interesting look at a historical event that I only knew a little about.

After a police crackdown on protesters outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention is deemed a riot, seven of the men involved are put on trial, along with Black Panther Party national chairman Bobby Seale. The leaders of several different youth-driven movements, the so-called Chicago 7 clash over both legal and political strategy as their fates play out in a near-farce of a trial.

Somewhere in the first 15-20 minutes, I thought to myself, “Did Aaron Sorkin write this?”, which I think is pretty good for someone who never watched The West Wing. But the Sorkinese is strong with this one, and for good reason – he both wrote and directed the film, picking up a nod for Best Original Screenplay. The dialogue is equal parts sharp, wry, and poignant, and I like how the story of the protest plays out over the course of the entire film through a mix of courtroom testimony, flashbacks, and standup monologues from one of the defendants. There are a lot of different characters/personalities in this film, and Sorkin does a nice job teasing out the differences between the members of the different organizations, often coming at the same issues from different lenses. That said, it’s also a film that feels its length, and even as I stayed engaged in the story, I looked at the clock multiple times.

Re: the 1968 DNC protests, I went into this film knowing little more than that they happened and that they started something of a firestorm over the TV footage and the police response. As such, I couldn’t tell you how closely this film does or doesn’t hew to history, but it makes for a really interesting watch. I’ve watched several films lately about how the government and law enforcement went after activists in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and some of what goes down here is appalling in its miscarriage of justice. There are plenty of moments where the egregious conduct over the course of the trial would be funny if it weren’t so despicable, what with a judge who can’t bother to remember the names of the men whose freedom is hanging in the balance or the obvious political motivations causing interference at every turn.

Also, Fred Hampton is a character who appears in the film, supporting Bobby Seale at the trial as the Black Panthers’ local chairmen. As someone who hadn’t heard of Hampton before Judas and the Black Messiah, it’s cool that there are two Best Picture nominees involving him in the same year.

With the exception of Yahya Abdul-Manteen II’s excellent performance as Bobby Seale and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as the aforementioned Fred Hampton, this is mostly a “look at all our white people!” movie. I’m not saying that to write it off by any means – a good story is a good story and good performances are good performances (after all, I also really liked Mank.) I just do want it pointed out, because it’s important to pay attention when people of color (and women, in the case of this film,) populate only a small portion of the cast. Sacha Baron Cohen as counterculture activist Abbie Hoffman is the film’s chosen son, the one who gets the Best Supporting Actor nomination. For much of the runtime, I thought that was mainly down to the “comedic actor does drama!!!!” factor, but by the end of the film, I could see why Baron Cohen was recognized. He’s far from the only actor turning in great work here, though. Like I said, Abdul-Manteen is wonderful, and the main ensemble also includes fine turns from the always-reliable Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Frank Langella is suitably-dismaying as Judge Hoffman, and there’s also a brief but memorable turn from Michael Keaton. When it comes to Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, the more “respectable” anti-war student leader positioned opposite hippie leader Abbie Hoffman, I think he’s a little hamstrung by his accent work, but he still has some really top-notch scenes here.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including systemic racism,) violence (including police brutality,) sexual references, language, and drinking/smoking/drug use.