All Lives Matter never means what they say it means...

The film, The Trial of The Chicago 7 is all about teaching you this lesson and I’m 100% here for it.

Set in Chicago 1969 at the start of the famous trial of the ring leaders of the Chicago protests/riots at the DNC, this story is ripped from the memories of anyone who dared to question, did we really need to be fighting in the Vietnam War? Do protests change minds? Does the 1st amendment apply to all US citizens? And, are cops ever really good?

You will do the deep dive after this film and you won’t regret that either. This wasn’t in your history curriculum. Writer and Director, Aaron Sorkin will handhold you a bit, but if you know his work, you know he’s not about dumbing down anything for his viewers. This film moves with his usual breakneck pace, exquisite and precise language, and exceptional cast. This historical drama is so timely and you can’t help but wonder if he knew that it would be so well aligned with the social justice uprising this country saw in the summer of 2020.

As we watch the US government mount their case against the supposed ring leaders of the riots; Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and finally, Black Panther, Bobby Seale, we are shown flashbacks of the tense scene around the city in Chicago. We get a first-hand look at the bureaucratic intrusion into the permit process for protesting, spies in the field infiltrating the protest movement using any and all means of connection, and the corruption and witness tampering that was commonplace in the Police Department at the time.

This film is serious but not heavy-handed at all. Scenes are well shot and don’t play on typical sympathies. In fact, they often don’t take themselves as seriously as they are at all. There is a comedic thread that pulses through the film in order to ease you into taking the medicine of this lesson, that this group was really just fighting for the right to discuss life and death. Sorkin adds the racial element that was a part of this trial expertly. He doesn’t shy away from the blatant discrimination that is prevalent at the time, the misunderstanding of the Black Panther Movement, and the plight of all Black people in the prison and judicial system. Frank Langella plays Judge Julius Hoffman and you really love to hate him after this role. He is vile, obtuse, and wrong in so many ways and through him, Sorkin shows us how age and whiteness really are a tremendous barrier to the real social changes that were needed in the 60s and mirrored now.

However, by far the standout performance here is Sacha Baron Cohen and the AAMPAS got it right with his nomination for Supporting Actor. He is mesmerizing as Abbie Hoffman. On the surface a typical stoner, counter-culture, rabble-rouser who is here for the party and partly for the protest. In the end, it’s Abbie who would really become the commentary to all aspects of the injustices of this time. While some thought he was simply seeking the spotlight and his 15 minutes of fame, what we see is someone so connected to the exploitation of this time that he seeks out all venues to spread the word about injustice, his anti-war protest, and racial inequity in the courtroom. The deep dive teaches you that it eventually takes the ultimate toll on his life and mental health.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a great film and gives you all the things you need from a best picture movie. My only caveat here is that it is real male-centric. There are not any solid female characters that contribute beyond a small supporting role. While that isn’t the goal of this particular story, it needs to be acknowledged that we are still making and greenlighting films in 2021 with almost all-male casts.

When they open the Best Picture envelope this year at the Academy Awards, it could very well say The Trial of the Chicago 7. At this moment in time Academy voters are watching and reeling from the Derek Chauvin case and feeling all kinds of white guilt. Is this the film that they will choose to appease themselves of the injustice served upon George Flloyd or the protesters of 2020? Will they choose this film because Judas and the Black Messiah is “just a little too Black for them?” Possibly. None of that detracts from the fact that this is a film worth watching and teaches you a lesson in the process. All lives never mattered, not then and certainly not now.

And there’s the opinion you never asked for...xo Kristi