The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (2020) Movie Review: The Film Shouldn't Be Missed

Premise: The Trial of the Chicago 7 movie is about the courtroom’s historical event in the year 1968. A peaceful protest to stop the pointless Vietnam war turns into the chaos with police and Nixon administration encounters. Seven protesters are charged with conspiracy of inciting the riot. Among them are Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), leader of the students’ democratic party, Abbie Hoffman (Sacha baron Cohen), co-founder of the Youth International Party. The eight is Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen ii), founder of black panther, who is not involved in the incident yet charged.

Review: Aaron Sorkin has written captivating screenplays like the social network (2010), Steve Jobs (2015), and A Few Good Men (1992), which is considered to have the best courtroom drama. After his first directorial movie Molly’s Game, he brings the Trial of the Chicago 7, the factual event of a five months trial in 1968, the movie speaks about the corrupted justice system. The direction is up to scratch, but the writing here is top-notch and the best I’ve seen this year.

Indeed the movie is not historically accurate. To present the importance of theme and characters within the two hours mark, Aaron Sorkin took artistic liberty. The movie spectacularly grips the audience by going back to the protest sequence with parallel to courtroom drama. The film’s pacing is outstanding by arranging events at the defence team’s headquarters and the courtroom. Aaron Sorkin’s dynamic words shape the scene and characterization from the beginning of the movie.

Why are you on the trail here? We carried certain ideas across state lines, not machine guns or drugs or little girls Ideas. We had certain ideas, and for that, we were gassed, beaten, arrested, and put on Trial

The Trial of the Chicago 7 has the best cast assembled this year; everyone in the movie is given a career defying performance. Frank Langella did a great job portraying the character of Unqualified corrupted judge Julius Hoffman. Frank also played as Nixon in Frost and Nixon (2008), which nominated him for an Oscar. Powerful acting by Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, an anti-war and civil rights activist.

A surprise to see the humour in this severe and intense film, mostly done by Jeremy Strong and Sacha baron; he gave a brilliant performance by showing his character’s shades. The sheer comeback of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as prosecutor, tremendous performance by Mark Rylance and Yahya Abdul-Mateen ii.

The movie was shot in Chicago park where the real event took place; it is produced by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks and scheduled to release theatrically on September 25. Sadly due to Covid-19, it is released limited and distributed on Netflix. If possible, try to watch this masterpiece in theatres to experience the most.

Conclusion: In the story of the Political Trial, Aaron Sorkin keeps his audience within grips with his sharp writing and undeniably riveting performances by an ensemble cast. My rating 8.5/10.

Director: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Rylance, Frank Langella, Sacha Baron Cohen
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller