The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (2020) Movie Review
The Whole World Is Watching!
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As I was checking if I have indeed watched the entire Netfix archive for romantic comedies (so I can write some more bad reviews) I decided to do myself a favour and watch something worthy. So, the trial was ahead. Before getting into the full review, I would like to note that, well, I loved it!
The Trial Of The Chicago 7 covers the events that got out of hand at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, United States. This is not a history class, so I will just say, it got wild friends. This convention was held to protest the war, that cost too many lives all across United States. It was meant to be peaceful but due to the lack of organization and brutal police blocks, the convention protest got out of hand, costing lives on both sides.That, was the brief summary of the events, and I wanted to note these down, so you can understand the movie review a bit better.
The movie is more interested in the court judgement of the events. The movie evolves arround the case at the time against Chicago 8, which then turned into Chicago 7. The defendants are accused of conspiracy against the state by the state, even though the protests was to create a peaceful country. The 7 leaders of the protest, are all part of different groups, and all had different ideas about why the war should end. But one thing for sure, they all wanted it to end. Anyways, as the movie goes, we get deeper in their backstories, mostly the times arround the convention of course, not their childhood dreams. As we go deeper, we get to know the basics of their ideas, and personalities. Also, through the case, you begin to hate the case's judge, but I will let you feel that yourself, don't wanna spoil that. Other than that, The Trial Of Chicago 7 is kind of a social activism poster movie, covering the politically motivated trial for the convention protesters.
In the cores, this trial is one of the most important trials of the US history (trust me, I study law.) so the movie tries too hard to create a perfect display for the trial, and they achieve that goal. There's nothing much to say about acting for any of the cast, they were all on point, perfectly done. Obviously the scenery was rather basic, some critics took that as a downer for the movie, but for me, it is also a good decision here, since it's a court drama. Not expecting the best animation of the year in a slow pace drama, are we? The movie evolves arround a court case, so it doesn't use that much music, which is, also, normal. Shooting style of the movie seems normal for a drama in the court scenes, and in the park scenes, they take it one step further, and display even more detailed scenes on screen. Technically, there's nothing to accuse the production for me.
The silent story teller in this title sides with the protesters, it's no secret. And that's no problem for me socially. But, as for the character development of some characters, such as the state's attorney Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt of 500 days of summer), the movie shows no effort, at all. There are some short scenes about their background, but they're just there to show their guilt about all this mess, nothing more. The 7 defendant is portrayed in most of the movie, that's normal, it's in the title, but I would like to know, for example, where Richard was, and what he was doing on the convention day.
Only other minus for the movie for me was the repetitive scenes. I mean, I get it that you want the viewer to understand how unprofessional the trial was, but there was no need for Bobby Seale to claim that he has no lawyer 10 times. Of course he did all that in reality, but does he need to, in a 129 minutes drama? I don't know, I had no problems with it personally, since the law is my life, but for general viewer, it might have been a hard time. (Speaking of this lawyer crisis, Judge Julius Hoffman might be the worst judge of 60s, well apart from the dictatorships, considering he was a veteran judge at the time, and also of course, graduated from law school, yet he didn't understand the free will on representing and kept pushing the defendant on Kunstler's representation just because he was on the same trial.)
All rise. In the end, we loved the movie, and everything it stands for. The movie reaches the viewer easily, and keeps the attention on the screen all movie long. It's fair to say that it would be a best picture nominee, if Oscars were today. It wouldn't be a surprise to see at least 3 nominations in the Academy Awards. (Edit : Well, Variety agrees, it seems) Hands down, nothing much to say, a good movie!
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