The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Tom Hayden	Eddie Redmayne	½
Rennie Davis	Alex Sharp	½
Abbie Hoffman	Sacha Baron Cohen
Jerry Rubin	Jeremy Strong
David Dellinger	John Carroll Lynch
Bobby Seale	Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
William Kunstler	Mark Rylance	½
Richard Schultz	Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Leonard Weinglass	Ben Shenkman
Thomas Foran	J.C. MacKenzie	-
Judge Julius Hoffman	Frank Langella
John Froines	Danny Flaherty	-
Lee Weiner	Noah Robbins	-
John Mitchell	John Doman	-
Ramsey Clark	Michael Keaton	-

Review

Aaron Sorkin sure knows how to build drama from the courtroom, with colourful, righteous protagonists being prosecuted by and eventually sticking it to outdated, morally corrupt people of power. He did it effectively in A Few Good Men almost thirty years ago, and he does it again with The Trial of the Chicago 7, a Paramount produced and Netflix distributed historical drama about the demonstrations and ensuing riots in connection with the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The concept of more or less stoned hippie comedians appearing in court with an old-timer judge born in the 1800s positively screams for Sorkin's pen. And Sorkin also manages to keep his direction firmly reined in here, which is no easy feat with as many defendants, attorneys and co-characters as this story encapsulates. Admittedly, he highlights the flashy ones and sometimes overemphazises the more hammy portions of his story, but it's effective storytelling nonetheless – and with its heart in the right place, mind you. The film is a valid reminder that we sometimes just gotta stick it to the man. There are many fine performances from an ensemble of talents, notably Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen and Frank Langella in some of the most prominent parts. But the very best performance here belongs to unsung hero Mark Rylance, who makes defence counsel William Kunstler the most human of all these characters.