The Trial of the Chicago 7

With cinemas currently out of action and Hollywood uncertain with how to best go about releasing their tentpole films, streaming services like Netflix have come into their own for the time being as they gradually release new films and shows that were fortunately finished before the pandemic struck the industry hard. One of which is Netflix's The Trial of the Chicago 7 which is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and an Oscar hopeful, if that ceremony even goes ahead. 

I can't say I knew anything about this trial, sure I was aware of the anti war/government movement that protested the Vietnam War as we saw in Forrest Gump but the story Sorkin has chosen to explore is one that's not as widely known in the UK. Without giving the game away, the film follows seven people on trial facing charges for causing a riot with the police at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the prosecutor and Mark Rylance is the defence lawyer defending a colourful group of characters from Eddie Redmayne's President of the Students for a Democratic Society to Sacha Baron Cohen's founding member of the Youth International Party who were caught in the same incident but who also hold different views. Sorkin plays this as a courtroom drama, familiar territory for the writer behind A Few Good Men, and gradually reveals how the riots occurred. 

The Trial of the Chicago 7 somewhat relies on the audience having an understanding of America's political situation at the time and on the trial itself. The film begins with Sorkin's speedy dialogue that requires you to catch every word or prepare to be left behind, and if you're not a fan of the writer's approach then this will likely do little to change your mind. I enjoyed the punchy start but then the film lulls in the middle where I then wondered if Sorkin should stick to writing and if getting David Fincher onboard to direct might have been a wiser decision. With that said, the drama rises towards the end and becomes very exciting but Sorkin tarnishes this with a cheesy ending in the final moments as the camera fades to black.

This leads me to the bugbear of films based on true stories; historical accuracy and will I feel cheated if I learn half of this wasn't true? There is a good film here to enjoy but when I learnt Sorkin changed details to create the ending we have here and made some characters such as Levitt's more sympathetic, it impacted my overall opinion on the film. Of course this is nothing new and I've been more forgiving on other films who take these liberties but when we look at recent history, and the tweaks Sorkin has made, I expected something a little closer to reality. 

Putting aside my gripes with the above, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is still a good drama that is entertaining to watch and boasts strong performances from its talented cast. Sorkin improves in some areas over his previous film Molly's Game but I can't help feeling this would have benefited from a different director as we saw ten years ago with his Fincher collaboration that led to The Social Network. But even still it's on Netflix and if you want something new, you can certainly do a lot worse.