By Eva Sanchez
“The world is watching,” crowds of anti-Vietnam-War protesters chant throughout different points of the movie. “The world is watching.” If something about that feels eerily similar to the chants at protests over last summer, then this movie has made its point.
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” takes place after the 1968 Democratic National Convention (DNC) where multiple leftist groups, including the Students for Democratic Society and the Youth International Party, took to the streets of Chicago to protest the Vietnam War. Famously, these protests turned into a riot because of the brutality and use of force by the Chicago Police Department against the protesters. Nixon’s attorney general wanted to indict leaders of several protesting groups for conspiracy to start the riots, giving his lawyers eight men that he wanted to indict and giving us “The Trial of the Chicago 7”.
The defendants of the trial and the movie’s main characters were Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Bobby Seale, John Froines and Lee Weiner. I’m sure you noticed that the movie title references seven defendants, but I’ve listed eight. This was because of Bobby Seale who, although was called to be a defendant, was not included in “the seven” because his case was declared a mistrial.
Most of the seven were leaders of the protests. Hayden and Davis led Students for Democratic Society, Hoffman and Rubin led the Youth International Party, Dellinger led the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam and Seale was the national chairman of the Black Panther Party. Froines and Weiner did not lead the protests but were also defendants. The two are known as the forgotten members of the seven.
The movie gives you all of the necessary background information to understand its historical context even if you have not learned about it. It begins with real clips of former President Lyndon Johnson, the Vietnam War and the anti-war protests, setting the stage for the time period and the film’s focus. The introduction of characters shows each of the group sets up how each person is connected to but also removed from one another. They are all against the war and want to protest peacefully at the DNC.
Flashbacks pop up throughout the trial to show viewers what was really happening versus what witnesses are testifying. It is clear from the beginning of the movie that government officials are against these men, especially Bobby Seale, who is the only Black defendant.
Seale is the eighth defendant on trial for starting a riot, but he was only in Chicago for four hours, he says. The judge starts the trial although Seale’s lawyer is not present. The judge also refuses to let Seale represent himself. The treatment of Seale versus the other seven defendants is clearly unequal and is the result of a prejudiced judge, which was common in 1969.
This movie’s portrayal of the anti-Vietnam-War protests is reminiscent of the protests that happened this past summer to open up a conversation about how things have not changed enough. Police brutality against protesters caused this trial 50 years ago. Police brutality against Black Americans was the driving force of last summer’s protests, protests that were met with tear gas, rubber bullets and overly armed officers just as they were in 1968. This movie makes us reexamine the supposed progress we have made.
The cast has many big names and great performances. They help director Aaron Sorkin find the perfect balance between seriousness and comedy. Sacha Baron Cohen in particular did a wonderful job and was nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Abbie Hoffman.
It is clear to see why this movie received its Oscar nomination. Not only does it showcase a relevant historical event, but it makes enough of a statement without risking much and features a star studded cast. The movie was excellent and worth the watch but, based on the other nominees for best picture, I personally don’t think this one is going to walk away with the win.
Terp Reactions:
“It was great! It was fast-paced, intense and used humor at the right time. The acting was really good, especially Sacha Baron Cohen. It was also a somber reminder of how little things have improved in the last 60 years. We still have institutional support of police violence, unequal treatment in the criminal justice system and the Democratic Party — don’t get me started on them. Responses to injustice are met more harshly than injustices themselves,” said junior math and economics double major Peter Robinson.
“’Chicago 7′ has extremely riveting dialogue as all of the other films Aaron Sorkin has written. It has great character development and tells the story wonderfully, keeping me on the edge and invested throughout the entirety of the movie about a crucial part of the history that did not get as much attention as it should have,” said junior computer science student Evan Ni.
“I enjoyed watching ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ because I did not know much about the resistance to the Vietnam War. It showed injustice in the legal system in a compelling way and enabled the view to draw parallels between the protests then and the BLM (Black Lives Matter) protests now,” said junior bioengineering student Ashley Hawkins.
Featured photo: Movie poster courtesy of IMDb. Graphics added and edited by Eva Sanchez.