The Trial of the Chicago 7

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

Produced by Stuart M. Besser, Matt Jackson, Marc Platt, Tyler Thompson,

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Flaherty, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Noah Robbins, Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong

Music by Daniel Pemberton

Cinematography Phedon Papamichael

Edited by Alan Baumgarten

Production Companies Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Cross Creek Pictures, Marc Platt Productions, ShivHans Pictures

He’s back.

Aaron Sorkin creator, writer and director of The West Wing, has done a lot of good things since his beloved classic political drama. He has a raft of awards to show for it, and any new release of his is an event amongst his fans.

But good as his stuff was, nothing quite had the impact of West Wing. Big People doing Big Things for noble causes, invocations to higher causes, challenging God himself, with everyone rising to the occasion. Often despite themselves. Bios of tech moguls or newsroom staff, despite all the articulate idealism that is Sorkin’s stamp, just didn’t have the same impact.

Sorkin is at his best dealing with people who are resolute and great, if flawed. He could do incredible, instant classic movies if his subjects were FDR or Stalin during the war, Mueller during the investigation into Trump, or any other great political drama ever recorded.

Sorkin himself realized the events of that trial were perfect for him, and wrote the screenplay back in 2007. It spent 13 years in development hell before Netflix picked it up, with their usual genius for salvaging pure gold from the ocean floor.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 was one of the most raucous and infamous trials in American history. Just the people named Hoffman ensured that the trial would be a mixture of adversity, pathos, bathos, outrage, idealism, corruption, cynicism, wisdom and foolishness.

Informed with the trademark machine-gun repartee and with flashes of wit, Sorkin transcends the events of the trial to produce a delirious two hours of the best entertainment around.

It is entertainment, rather than a historical portrayal. For instance, the draft lottery didn’t come into existence until 1970, just in time to save my ass.

The Hoffmans (Abby and Judge Julius) were played to exquisite effect by Sacha Baron Cohen and Frank Langella (I’ll let you figure out which was which) but remarkable roles included Tom Hayden (Redmayne), Jerry Rubin (Strong), Dellinger (Lynch), William Kunstler (Rylance), Bobby Seale (Abdul-Mateen) and Ramsey Clark (Keaton).

This is a vastly entertaining and moving film that shows America losing its way, on the path to Trump, with incredible characters and a gripping story. I plan to watch it a second time, just because it’s so unbelievably good.

Now on Netflix.