The Trial of the Chicago 7

 

Just one example of the startling imagery of The Trial of the Chicago 7

Remarkably unengaging and badly directed, Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 is prime Oscar bait, but subprime cinema. Sorkin flattens all the participants into one dimensional caricatures. Mark Rylance and Frank Langella do solid work, but cannot overcome their miscasting as William Kunstler and Judge Hoffman. Eddie Redmayne and Sascha Baron Cohen huff and puff as, respectively, Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman, but cannot project a performance that transcends Sorkin's limited conception of these multi-sided men. Only John Carroll Lynch is able to make flesh and blood out of one of the seven as David Dellinger. Sorkin has made a name for himself as the Paddy Chayefsky of our era, but his direction would have seemed dull in the days of the The Philco Television Playhouse. A much better presentation of this travesty of justice is the bare bones BBC Production, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial.