Read to know why should you (or not) watch this film. Complete analysis, review and breakdown of the 2020 Period Courtroom-Thriller film by Aaron Sorkin.
1. General Review —
Quintessential and aptly sensational, Chicago 7 is the most relatable film released in this decade of political swings.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the second directorial film by Aaron Sorkin, one of the greatest screenwriters in Hollywood, based on the famous trial of the seven accused in the anti-vietnam-war protest and riots that took place in Chicago, Illinois 1968. To be honest, It’s really hard to begin this review as to which aspect of the film should I pick first. Okay, Let me simply clear my chest off: “The film is flawless, provoking and heartfelt.”. Right from the beginning of the film, in a span of 5 rocking minutes, Sorkin hooks you to the milieu of the story, the initial chaos all around Chicago, the agitated minds planning to protest, the government strengthening their security, the rising recruitment for war and what not.
The gameplay starts 5 months after the riots and then continuously dances between two timelines creating a strong juxtaposition between the facts being stated in the court, how they got interpreted and what actually happened. The ensemble cast has not disappointed even for a second, especially Sacha Baron Cohen, who’s played the role of Abbie Hoffman, a radical anti-war revolutionary activist. The killing of Fred Hampton, and the chaos that emerges after it very well fits into today’s agitated situation of police brutality against African American in USA.
Read the Character’s Eye section to know about the most iconic political trial of the Chicago 7.
Note: There is nothing such as Political Trial in the constitution of United States of America. :)
2. Film through Character’s Eye —
Oh people love it when they have a chance to show the government and their workers, who the real boss is — People. It makes them feel powerful, and sometimes makes them blind too. There were seven people, who were accused of wrongly inciting and provoking the crowd to confront the armed police force. If we talk about the expectations of the accused from the protest they’d planned, they actually must have imagined the worst ie, police confrontation and thus, riots. True. But, none of them would have imagined that, this worst will turn out to be the only reality for them.
Abbie and Jerry, who attracted thousands of hippies and substance consuming youth, actually did radicalise the thoughts through their aggressive and powerful words, analogies from different literary works. Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis, being the most sincere among all focused more on acheiving what they aimed for remaining within their constitutional rights: managing the place, protesters and their rising tamper.
Anyways, all this does not matter at all. The soul of the film consists of its charismatic style of conveying and emphasising the point that any fact, statement or incident can be turned into any alternative reality. For eg: Tom Hayden was recorded saying, “If blood is gonna flow, let it flow all over the city.” This was very wittingly held as the most prominent proof against him. But, the other reality states that he saw his close friend bleeding his head and by those words he meant, “If our blood is gonna flow, let the whole city witness it.”
There are two types of trial categorised in the constitution, civil and criminal. This very trial came out to be a political trial. What’s a political trial? Five months after the riots, Nixon became the president and so did the Attorney General change. Now, the conflict rose because the last Attorney General and his investigating team concluded that it was Chicago Police force who started the riots, and due to the internal ego clash between both the Attorney Generals, the new Attorney General demanded for severe indictment to prove his power and teach lesson to the last Attorney General. And hence, A Political Trial where the judge, police, Attorney General and media did everything to make it happen.
This is the bitter side of truth that audaciously Sorkin chose to show in his film.
3. Film through Director’s eye —
I have never been on trial for my thoughts before. — Abbie Hoffman
What shall I say about the master, Aaron Sorkin. This is the most Sorkinist film the world has seen. Films written by Sorkin evidently and unapologetically involves tremendous flow of dialogues. The characters express themselves and their emotions using words, and then more words. This film is both written and directed by him, which explains the dialogues and consequently the colossal as well as transient flow of visual narrative. Sorkin jumps from one timeline to another, creating a strong sense of juxtaposition through chracater dialogues.
A very quick example out of many: The sequence where Abbie in his show, and Schultz in the courtroom were discussing about how the crowd took over the hill surrounded by cops, and the riot started, while the scene cuts as fast as the words came out of their mouth, also incorporating the actual scene of it all happening. The background music clearly perfects the visuals, be it the initial chaos, the courtoom chaos or the riots. Hats off to Daniel Pamberton, the music composer of the film.
4. WATCH CLOSELY —
Wait after the movie ends, the film states many facts and aftermaths of the trial. Fred Hampton’s assassination is one of the most crucial incident in the history of civil right movement in USA. A film released by the name of Judas and The Black Messiah entails the story of how Cook County Police, Chicago Police and FBI conspired the assassination of Fred Hampton, at time when Bobby Seale was falsely accused and was being trialed with the Chicago 7.
