Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ on Netflix, Aaron Sorkin’s Witty Take on a Notorious Travesty of Justice

Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the new film by Aaron Sorkin, director and dialogue artist, Oscar winner for writing The Social Network and king of the walk-and-talk. The film looks back to the late ’60s, when a hotly contested election, racial turmoil and police brutality defined the day, and nobody knew how good they had it because it wasn’t happening during a deadly pandemic and a climate crisis while machine guns are sold in Walmarts and there’s a double-baby punchinello in the White House. Anyway, if anyone can goose a staid genre like the courtroom drama, Sorkin can.

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The movie begins with archival footage of 1960s turmoil set to uptempo rock ‘n’ roll. Some of that turmoil occurred in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when anti-Vietnam War protesters clashed with police, and hundreds were injured and arrested. This clearly wasn’t the fault of brutal cops spoiling for a fight, but rather rabblerousers and hippies and peaceniks and anarchists and antifa, or am I getting my 2020 history mixed up with my 1968 history? Either way, there were some Black people in the vicinity, so they were obviously at fault, too.

The ugly scene might have been a footnote instead of a movie directed and written by Aaron Sorkin and starring a mighty talented ensemble if it didn’t result in a disgraceful clown show of a trial. Prosecutors Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Thomas Foran (J.C. MacKenzie) are called into the office of Richard Nixon’s brand-new A.G. and instructed to use some freshly minted laws to bullseye a handful of countercultural leaders for crossing state lines and conspiring to riot. These people have long hair and anti-American ideas, see, and they need to go down. Either that, or they’re Black. Actually, maybe they’re not Black. But make sure a Black guy is tossed in for good measure. That’s what the A.G. doesn’t say, but actually does say, after you think about it for a minute.

Anyway, the Chicago 8 are lumped into a courtroom: Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), David Dellenger (John Carroll Lynch), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins), John Froines (Daniel Flaherty) and Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). I know, look at the title of the movie, but the eighth guy is the Black guy who doesn’t have a lawyer and isn’t allowed to represent himself and is eventually bound and gagged in his seat in the courtroom. If you believe this scene is just made-up Hollywood hogwash, keep in mind, in real life, he was bound and gagged for several days, not just one day as depicted in the movie. He was then removed from the trial, to be tried separately. Which never happened. America.

The guy who ordered this to happen, the judge, Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), he’s a real prick, see. Sometimes when the defense lawyer, William Kunstler (Mark Rylance), is questioning a witness, Judge Hoffman sustains an objection before the prosecutor even says “Objection!” He hands out contempt charges by the handful like July 4 parade candy. Sometimes they’re maybe deserved, like when Abbie Hoffman, no relation, wisecracks in the middle of the trial or wears a judge’s robe in mockery of the judge, underneath of which he wears a police uniform in mockery of the police. But if the trial wasn’t so blatantly stupid, political, racist and unconstitutional, he/they might not feel the need to disrupt so frequently. The events of the day of the clash are told in flashback as the trial drags on — for months. Meanwhile, Abbie Hoffman, no relation, and Hayden clash over their numerous differences, but have something in common: their railroading.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s like 12 Angry Men mixed with Milk, Loving and A Few Good Men.

Performance Worth Watching: If you’re looking for a reason to finally enjoy the work of Borat guy Cohen and heavily mannered British guy Redmayne, let it be known that this film features their best performances. Cohen is a jolt of electricity in this movie’s ass, and Redmayne is perfectly earnest as his character foil.

Memorable Dialogue: “You’ve posed that question in the form of a lie,” Jerry Rubin says in reply to a leading question from a journalist

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Sorkin details, broadens, dramatizes, colorizes, historical-perspectivizes, galvanizes, and energizes this story. These two hours FLY by. Nobody is going to accuse Sorkin of historical accuracy (nobody should ever accuse ANY feature filmmaker using actors and fake lighting and scripted lines of historical accuracy, ever, /axegrind). But the cast is obviously inspired by his shrewd writing — dialogue, structure, character-building — which renders this political drama amusing and eminently digestible. This, despite the shocking sight of a Black man in chains in a courtroom without representation, which is so over-the-top appalling, disgusting, disturbing, it would function in the film as small-b black comedy if it weren’t true.

All this is the surface-level entertainment value of The Trial of the Chicago 7. With such vibrant text, there isn’t much need for subtext — unless it’s unintentional. Sorkin wrote the script during the George W. Bush administration for Steven Spielberg to direct, and eventually took the helm. But the last six months have redefined mainstream perspectives on racial inequity, protests and ethics in law enforcement, and the movie addresses all this with accidental timeliness and potency. Funny how that happens. Or not funny. But considering the comic tone Sorkin nurtures, it’s hard not to be flippant in our contextualization of the travesty of justice the movie frames as farce — because travesties of justice like this are happening every other day now. Compared to 2020, Nixon was a teddy bear who farted in church.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is classic witty, relevant Sorkin.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix