The Trial of the Chicago 7 review, Culture Whisper
As with Spike Lee’s recent Vietnam drama Da 5 Bloods, writer-director Aaron Sorkin rhythmically opens his latest film with footage from the stormin’ 60s. The reality of the period moulds with the dramatisation, evoking those fraught times. Its resonance ripples into the here and now.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 follows the eight (eventually seven) anti-war protestors arrested for inciting riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Footage of President Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy are spliced with several quickfire dialogues (fictionalised) between key members of the accused.
There’s a Pythonesque joy in all the acronyms and nuances of the anti-war societies, who basically promote the same message: Stop the Vietnam War. The opening montage is dense, furious and (for the most part) accessible. Within seven minutes, you understand the personality of each splinter group of the so-called ‘Radical Left’.
