Synopsis
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.
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Cast
- Eddie RedmayneTom Hayden
- Sacha Baron CohenAbbie Hoffman
- Joseph Gordon-LevittRichard Schultz
- Michael KeatonRamsey Clark
- Frank LangellaJudge Julius Hoffman
- John Carroll LynchDavid Dellinger
- Mark RylanceWilliam Kunstler
- Alex SharpRennie Davis
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen IIBobby Seale
- Jeremy StrongJerry Rubin
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
Certain events are rearranged from the factual timelines, and yes, The Trial of the Chicago 7 exercises poetic license. This is not a documentary; it’s a dramatization of events that resonates with great power while containing essential truths, and it’s one of the best movies of the year. - 90
Arizona Republic
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is something unexpected, fun. Sorkin trusts his instincts. Maybe real life has made it so that nothing seems over the top anymore. Whatever the case, it makes the film something else, too: timely. - 88
USA Today
The filmmaker crafts an entertaining, immersive and ultimately optimistic spectacle that never forgets, especially at its ending, that humanity should always trump the system. - 75
IndieWire
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is exactly as advertised — a giant, giddy burst of earnest theatricality, loaded with a formidable ensemble that chews on every inch of the scenery, that overall makes a passionate case for the resilience of its formula more than using it as an excuse. - 75
Chicago Tribune
Sorkin’s writing may be better served by a director who can bring a new set of perspectives and dynamics to the work, rather than simply presenting them head-on. Yet it works anyway. The actors win on appeal. And it’s always worth revisiting this particular chapter of Chicago unrest and injustice, because that chapter, tragically, is always up for another rewrite. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Chicago 7 frames the past not just as entertaining prologue but a living document; one we ignore at our own peril. - 75
Slashfilm
From a movie-making perspective, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is sturdy but not particularly revelatory. But as a delivery system for great performers rattling off great dialogue, it’s almost unbeatable. - 67
The Playlist
While many will draw parallels between scenes involving civil unrest to the events of 2020, the philosophical differences between Hayden and Abbie — cultural versus electoral revolution, respectively — ring closely to the debates raging within progressive politics today, and actually prove more interesting.
