The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Title: The Trial of Chicago 7

Year: 2020

Genre: Drama | History | Thriller |

Runtime: 129 min

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Starring: Mark Rylance, Sasha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong

8,0/10

The story of 7 people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

SOLID COURT-DRAMA ON DEMOCRACY

Aaron Sorkin is by far the most talented and successful screenwriter in Hollywood today. The screenwriter behind The White House, The Social Network and Molly’s Game share a story that has been pinpointed in America’s history as it explores and delves deep into the country’s democracy. Even if it takes place during the 60s, it fulfils a purpose to be relevant in the present time. Considering that this is Mr Sorkin’s second film, he has proved his talent multiple times and this feature film is no exception to that rule.

With a stellar and established cast with so many personalities and dynamic relations between each other, it balances the drama and the light tone scenes great. American films with trials in focus tend to be long and exhausted to watch, however, Sorkin manages to maintain an entertaining experience. Some of the cast includes Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Carroll Lynch, Jeremy Strong and Sasha Baron Cohen. They work well with the character they’re portraying. It also helps that the ensemble has a high-level performance as otherwise the film would probably be dragged and boring. Instead, it has an intriguing storytelling and dialogue scenes.  However, Mark Rylance shows strength in his scenes and deserves praise for his contribution. Sasha Baron Cohen proves himself capable of dramatic roles. There are some decent, dramatic scenes in the courtroom during the runtime of the film.

The story is captivating, the character is exciting and doesn’t feel flat as the most character is nowadays, the pacing feels right. It doesn’t get boring despite being over 120 minutes. It works well with the story on how it ends even if the ending become rather political in an unnecessary way. The film is a good watch and probably gives some thought on how democracy really works both now and back then.

The film is worth watching and worth the time but it feels sometimes strangled by the story and doesn’t really give any breathing room so instead there’s a lot of flashback scenes covering the plot points a normal three arc story would have. Aaron Sorkin is for one a master to mix both the comical and the drama to make the character appear dynamic.