The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
To carry on the Sacha Baron Cohen theme. Let’s talk about The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Written and Directed by Aaron Sorkin, the film follows the trial of 7 activists plus one black panther leader where they are seen as guilty of causing a riot in Chicago during the build up of the Democratic National convention in 1968.
This movie and Borat 2 are both political films that talk about today's climate. And even though The Trial of the Chicago 7 was based in the 1960s, it does a better job of encapsulating today’s issue within America.
Police brutality is on the forefront of the debate within the trial. Whether it was the police that started the rioting or the eight defendants.
I never heard about this trial before so I was going in blind not knowing which direction the movie was going to go. And I was infatuated with the film, never getting bored or losing my bearings on what was happening.
I was thoroughly engaged. And this was down to two major aspects. Aaron Sorkin and the actors involved.
Aaron Sorkin is a brand and people know what they are coming into when watching a movie that is written by him. You know you are going to get funny and witty dialogue that never loses your engagement. And that’s what we got here.
There is this crispness when it comes to Aaron Sorkin dialogue. You know that’s not how people speak in real life but the sentences just flow so naturally that it’s like a symphony being played. Coupled with the acting, especially that of Mark Rylance, the whole movie becomes a flowing musical score of dialogue, acting and camera movement.
Everything working as one.
Sorkin’s directing was clever with the interjecting of real world footage playing a major part in telling this story. And that footage allows the movie to bring back the seriousness of the subject. This isn’t just an Aaron Sorkin maze of wit, it is a subject that is as important back then as it is right now.
The film is chalked up full of amazing talent from the aforementioned Mark Rylance to Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and John Carroll Lynch just to name a few. With Mark Rylance and Frank Langella who plays the judge, stealing the stage. Both were excellent to watch.
The biggest shame of the movie is I would have loved watching this in the cinema. It doesn’t garner the biggest screen but I think a movie of this quality deserved an auditorium full of people.
If you're looking to get your Sacha Baron Cohen fix, then I would recommend watching this movie over Borat 2 because Sacha Baron Cohen plays a wonderful mix of comedy and drama interchangeably.
Overall, The Trial of the Chicago 7 deserves to be watched because of its cultural importance to now but also it's just a damn good movie.
