Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 couldn’t have come out at a better time, being released after a summer full of protests against the increasing pervasiveness of police brutality – a message heard and followed across the world – and just a month before one of the most important presidential elections in the United States. “The whole world is watching!” The tumultuous chant heard in the late ’60s and in this film still certainly rings true in these times. And Sorkin knows this, as history has a tendency of repeating itself like a vicious cycle. This is the movie and message of the moment, meant to stimulate a discourse about how far we’ve come since then, but ultimately still face the same problems and injustices.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is, from its namesake, the story of the arrest and subsequent trial of the Chicago Seven, after a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War turned into a full riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and eventually catching international attention. If you’re already familiar with the said events, you’d know that there will be no justice served, and the trial is a product of a political vendetta. As shown very early on in the film, government power has just shifted from Lyndon B. Johnson to Richard Nixon, and prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is called in the offices of the newly appointed attorney general John Mitchell (John Doman) to convict the protesters of conspiracy and inciting a riot, no matter how far he has to stretch the law. Sorkin’s made it pretty crystal clear who the villain is and their twisted motivations in this story as quickly as he can.

The film wastes no time getting in the thick of it. After introducing the key players of 1968 protests, we jump straight into the trial in 1969, occasionally slipping into flashbacks to show the preparations and actual events of the protest as narrated by testimonies from the people involved – undercover cops, government officials, the lawyers, and even the protesters themselves. The prosecution lumps all the defendants as a single group of conspirators from the radical left, despite barely knowing one another and even having disagreeing ideologies on how best to effect change. Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp) are part of the Students for a Democratic Society, fighting to stop the Vietnam War and the increasing casualties of young soldiers. This doesn’t necessarily conform with the anti-authoritarian values of yippies Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), who believe a cultural revolution is the only way to change the system. David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) is a family man who is a committed pacifist, starting peaceful protests as a way to get message across. The eighth defendant Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a co-founder of the Black Panther Party, insists he doesn’t belong with the rest of them, and asks for his own representation. His case would eventually be severed from the trial, after being bound and gagged as ordered by Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), whose biases are obvious. Capping everyone off are the defendants’ lawyers William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and Leonard Weinglass (Ben Shenkman).

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It’s a sprawling cast of powerhouses, for sure. And they all seem to thoroughly enjoy delivering Sorkin’s grandstanding speeches and monologues. He is a screenwriter first, after all, so writing great dialogue is one of his strengths as proven by his previous works in The Social Network and Moneyball. He loves his speeches so much, to the point that his characters are all smooth talkers who always know what to say at the right moment, resulting in snappy exchanges and back-and-forths until one bursts out with a punchline. They’re the kind of speeches that move people and persuade minds. But it feels too polished and fast, especially for a courtroom drama depicting a very controversial trial. Sorkin ends up going for theatrics instead of showing the emotional weight of the story.

Nevertheless, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is still very entertaining, and there’s much to love about this film, mainly thanks to Sorkin creating a loveable bunch of characters out of the cast. The stoner duo act of Cohen and Strong is highly charming, and have the most fun out of their roles with their hammy accents. Frank Langella’s Hoffman perfectly portrays the contempt of a power tripping judge that viewers love to hate. The standout performance goes to Mark Rylance, however, who’s the only one to feel like a natural human being in the way he delivers his lines during his building exasperation towards a biased court.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is sort of a departure for him, in fact, as he likes to indulge in the glorification of American institutions. But what’s special about Sorkin’s latest film is the message it’s telling. These times, it’s important to be reminded of the grim reality we currently face, where the system that’s meant to help us is inherently unfair. There’s a poignant line Abbie Hoffman says far into the movie that perfectly encapsulates what the movie really is about, “I think the institutions of our democracy are wonderful things that right now are populated by terrible people.” It’s an impactful message that a majority of the world can deeply relate to, and I can only presume what Sorkin is hoping for.

Rating: ★★★☆☆