On October 16th, The Trial of the Chicago 7 was released on Netflix. It was originally meant to have a theatrical release in September, but it was only in select theaters because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is about the true story of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protesters who were being charged with conspiracy and starting riots across state lines.
The cast for this movie included Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Eddie Redmayne, as well as multiple other notable cast members. The film was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote one of my personal favorite movies, The Social Network. Needless to say, I was excited when I found out about this movie. With a great cast and a great director, what more could one need?
I really liked this movie. I thought that it was a really interesting watch, and I plan on watching it again for some more perspective. I never really knew about this trial before, so it was obviously very informative. There were also some very funny moments that I definitely didn’t expect from a legal drama. Sorkin used a lot of actual dialogue from the 1969 court sessions in the script, which is crazy to me because some of the things that were said in the movie were completely outlandish.
If you’re going to watch this movie, I would be prepared to feel some sense of anger or confusion. One of the main characters, Bobby Seale, was not part of the original Chicago 7, some refer to them as the Chicago 8, because he was charged for things that he had no involvement in. He was in Chicago for a few hours at most and did not attend the riots, but he was still sitting next to the 7 men in court. The judge did not give him the time of day, and there were many laughable moments of Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin making jokes about him.
I’ll try to refrain from any potential spoilers, but this was based on a true story. Most things in the movie are historical, and it’s easy to look up and research the case. I really enjoyed Sacha Baron Cohen in the movie, he was funny while also being serious at times. His character, the aforementioned Hoffman, is a Boston native, so it’s funny to hear an Englishman try to perfect the accent.
I think that this movie came out at a good time. It happened in the 60s, but there can be so many comparisons today about racial tensions. There was blatant racism a lot throughout the movie, so I would be aware of that before you watch it. The film continued to inform viewers that not a lot has changed for people of color in America, and more still needs to be done.
When I first finished this movie, all I wanted to do was watch it again. There were so many things that I want to go back and see for a second time because every aspect of this movie is entertaining. If you like movies like The Social Network, you’ll definitely like this one.