The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

It is somewhat fitting that this should be the first of the year's Academy Best Picture nominees that I see, because it was almost certainly the longest in development: Aaron Sorkin wrote it in 2007. We can only imagine how it would have differed if the original plan for Steven Spielberg to direct had panned out. I did detect a bit of Spielberg flavor before I knew that, but no, it's Sorkin's second turn as a screen director.

After a rather brisk intro, most of the film runs from the start of the trial to the end. For those like me who've been a little hazy, the Chicago 7 are Vietnam War protesters charged with deliberately inciting a riot at the '68 Democratic National Convention. In truth, eight men are on trial most of the time, but Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) doesn't belong there and eventually gets a mistrial declared. The others are Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins), and John Froines (Daniel Flaherty). Defense counsel William Kunstler (Mark Rylance -- have a few Brits as Americans) sees an uphill battle as unrelated Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) is plainly unfair and probably senile. Several of the defendants figure it's political theater and would rather make their message heard than try to get acquitted.

I've seen eight other Sorkin-scripted movies, and this must be his angriest; A Few Good Men looks like a dry run by comparison. OK, I may get the impression in part from heavy swearing, the main reason for an R rating (and for me liking the dialog slightly less than usual). But Sorkin indicates some relatively last-minute changes to match the modern atmosphere.

As I suspected, numerous changes deviate significantly from the true story, and several news sources stepped up to point them out. I refrained from passing judgment on the picture until I knew just how inaccurate it was and in what ways. Fortunately, it's not nearly as propagandist as I feared, mainly just cinematically artistic. In fact, on some counts, it dials back the ugliness, effectively watering down the message a little. That points to something I've always appreciated about Sorkin: While his views are no secret, he can be pretty respectful of opposition and open about his own side's faults.

I for one did not change my opinions of the characters I'd already heard of, let alone my political ideas. But the story was effective at getting me to care enough for a closer look. By all accounts, the trial should never have gone the way it did, not least with regard to Seale. I have to wonder about the judge's claim that he's never been accused of racial discrimination before: Either (a) he lies, (b) he forgets, (c) he got more racist with age, or (d) nobody ever dared to bring it up before.

I can see both why TTotC7 got so many Oscar nods and why it won none. It's a decent effort; it simply could use a bit more polish.