Aaron Sorkin, famous playwright and great American screenwriter (The Social Network, Steve Jobs), will have waited a long time to see his script on one of the most famous trials in the history of the United States brought to the screen. Written in 2007, the project had everything to be put on track with a seduced Steven Spielberg wishing to realize it. Yet it is Aaron Sorkin, himself, who will direct it a decade later. Initially delayed, The Chicago 7 will finally be bought by Netflix and is now available on the platform.
A narrative based on a controversial trial
The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago
The 1968 Democratic Convention in ChicagoIt was not very surprising that a screenwriter like Aaron Sorkin would do such a project. A true specialist in verbal jousting and dialectics in its scenarios and its many plays, the historic trial of the "Chicago Seven" lends itself perfectly to this. An extraordinary trial, it follows the Democratic Convention held at the time in 1968. Convention marked by anti-Vietnam War and revolutionary demonstrations organized, without authorization, by the Yippies and the Mobe in particular. Demonstrations repressed very violently by the Chicago police and which will lead to a political trial of influential personalities accused then of conspiracy and incitement to revolt by the federal entourage of the newly elected Richard Nixon. In his new film, Aaron Sorkin paints a contemporary portrait of the United States through a historical event of a far from innocuous era on the eve of the American elections and a year 2020 marked by numerous demonstrations and a citizen awakening.
An accessible and playful film that paints a mirror context of the modern United States
The Trial of the Chicago 7 / Netflix
Aaron Sorkin has not stopped repeating it in recent weeks, his latest feature film is not a historical reconstruction, even if it focuses on many facts, but a film designed to reason with the current era. A will that will be one of the strengths of the film, although developing certain limits that do not escape certain caricatures or a political dimension sometimes too studious and conformist. Nevertheless, The Chicago 7 is a rather surprising film because of its writing at first glance, but also more generally its narrative structure. A writing characteristic of the screenwriter's work, especially through the dialogues, which give this trial film an efficiency and a daring pace. These dialogues being delivered by an exceptional cast with multiple assets, each pulling out of the game with a rare mastery, the story will not cease to captivate escaping from the classic structure of the courtroom film. On the directing side, Aaron Sorkin having already made his works on his first film, the very correct Molly's Game (The Great Game in France) in 2017, the work of the staging is rather dynamic and aims right, although we will regret a certain Hollywood classicism. Indeed, often limited by its form, the director will struggle to renew himself preferring to work on his structure and the nuance of his subject leaving immersion and a certain realism. We will still remember a playful film for an important event in the modern history of the United States and a screenplay by Sorkin still brilliant.
