What The Trial of the Chicago 7 Misses Out

What The Trial of the Chicago 7 Misses Out

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The Netflix drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 tells a mostly true story of dissent and the justice system. How much did Aaron Sorkin leave out?

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What The Trial of the Chicago 7 Misses Out

The 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7 is based on a true story, but the movie leaves out pertinent information about the “Chicago 7” and the cultural context of the infamous trial. Acclaimed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed this courtroom drama based on actual events from over 50 years ago. Clocking in at just over two hours, The Trial of the Chicago 7 fits as much as it can about the anti-war protesters and the chaos that came before and during the court proceedings. The film features quite a few highlights from the entire debacle of dissent, from defendant Abbie Hoffman’s contemptible antics to Judge Hoffman (no relation) and his own bizarre courtroom behavior — but there’s quite a bit more that Sorkin skipped over.

The Netflix film features an acclaimed cast, including Sasha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Frank Langella, and covers the five-month-long trial of a group of activists charged with inciting the riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The film is Sorkin’s second as director, having previously impressed audiences with his 2017 film Molly’s Game — another drama based on true events.

As relevant today as ever, The Trial of the Chicago 7 takes place during a time of national turbulence, one that includes everything from the war in Vietnam to a tragic presidential election run. What did Sorkin leave out of The Trial of the Chicago 7 for the sake of brevity (or controversy)?

Bobby Seale’s Treatment Was Even Worse

What The Trial of the Chicago 7 Misses Out

The most jarring scene in The Trial of the Chicago 7 takes place near the midpoint of the film: Bobby Seales (Abdul-Mateen II) defies the apparently-prejudiced Judge Julius Hoffman (Langella) and is beaten, bound, and gagged by U.S. Marshals for his insolence. In the film, Seale, the only African American defendant, briefly faces the judge while he is restrained before prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) intercedes on his behalf. The real Bobby Seale was not so lucky: the Black Panthers founder actually spent several days of the trial in chains before his case was severed from the other seven and declared a mistrial.

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While The Trial of the Chicago 7 limits his grotesque treatment, the real Seale suffered excessive humiliation and physical distress at the direction of Judge Hoffman, including being hit in the genitals by officers as he was defenseless. Before he was finally released, Seale was able to remove his makeshift gag long enough to give the judge a vitriolic dressing down. He was removed from the court once more, and upon his return, Judge Hoffman issued Seale 16 counts of contempt before declaring a mistrial. Though the film’s epilogue acknowledges Seale’s acquittal in a separate murder case, it leaves out the four-year prison sentence handed down by Hoffman, though the charges were later overturned due to Judge Hoffman’s erratic behavior.

The Trial Featured Some Anti-War Icons

What The Trial of the Chicago 7 Misses Out

In The Trial of the Chicago 7, the court proceedings are filled by testimony against the leftist defendants from a figurative cavalcade of undercover cops, all but assuring an unfair verdict, with only former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark adding credibility to the defense. At the actual trial, defense attorneys William Kuntsler and Leonard Weinglass (Mark Rylance and Ben Shenkman) called a number of high-profile witnesses from the anti-war crowd, including author Norman Mailer, folk singers Arlo Guthrie and Judy Collins (who both serenaded the court with their protest songs), and psychedelics-advocate Timothy Leary. Civil rights activist and future Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson also testified for the defense, while Beat poet Allen Ginsberg used his time on the stand to recite his controversial poem “Howl,” which itself was at the center of a 1957 obscenity trial.

Ginsberg’s testimony, in particular, escalated the unrest in the courtroom, as he alternated between Eastern spiritualism chants and recitations of his own works. Also notably, singer Phil Ochs used his testimony to defend the rights of Pigasus, a pig that the Youth International Party (Yippies) satirically nominated for president. Ultimately, the movie packs in enough courtroom chaos without including the counterculture celebrities, save for brief cameos by Ginsberg and the pig in flashbacks.

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Protests Were A Reaction to More Than Vietnam

The Trial of the Chicago 7 focuses on charges that stemmed from the collision of police and protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, while “the whole world (was) watching.” The event was largely seen as a protest of the Vietnam War, but the city had already seen its share of mass anger and destruction months before. In April, Chicago residents took to the streets in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., one of many simultaneous nationwide demonstrations collectively called the “Holy Week Uprising.” Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, a contentious public official to say the least, was heavily criticized for his volatile rhetoric and oppressive mishandling of the three days of civic violence. Daley demanded a vicious police response to protesters, including orders to shoot-to-kill potential arsonists, and the city suffered 11 deaths and millions of dollars in damage as a result. Two months later, after winning the California Democratic primary, presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, casting another shadow over the ensuing election. Later, while the Chicago 7 were in the streets battling the riot squad, tensions inside the convention center were barely containable, and Mayor Daley quickly lost control of both the internal and external mayhem.

The activists who were charged with inciting the August riots were ardently against the war in Vietnam and the U.S. Military Draft, but in 1968, tensions were boiling over for many Americans after what they saw as a relentless succession of oppression by the government. Future Illinois Governor Daniel Walker later submitted a report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, which accused the Chicago Police Department of using excessive violence against demonstrators, to which Mayor Daley infamously replied, “the policeman is there to preserve disorder.” The riots within and without the DNC reflected poorly on the lifelong “Chicago machine” politician, though public sentiment was largely on the side of law enforcement, and Daley held onto his office until his death in 1976. The Trial of the Chicago 7 provides a fairly accurate reflection on the specifics surrounding the case but captures only a fraction of the disorder that engulfed the country in this defining era of dissent.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/trial-chicago-7-movie-missing-information-details/

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