The Trial of the Chicago 7, Netflix's new Oscar grab, follows the real life trial of eight leaders in the protest against the Vietnam War. When the cops started using force, riots broke out. The eight were put on a politically motivated trial (the title Chicago 7 makes sense if you watch) for charges of intentionally planning the riots with hostile judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) presiding. This was a really good film.
This is just a well executed courtroom piece. The thought-provoking serious stuff (how the judge treats Black Panther Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is especially shocking) is balanced with humor managing to make this both a film with something to say that also entertains. The various historical/political aspects to this is pretty interesting. (And yeah, there are obvious connotations to today's climate). The protest leaders come from different factions with different views on and ways of protesting, and one of the driving forces is seeing the characters work off of one another.
If the movie has any weaknesses is that it can be a little too obvious at at getting those big emotional Holywood moments. In particular, there area lot of scenes of prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) having multiple crises of conscious which doesn't seem like that is how that played in real life.
The acting is top notch in this with an array of big or experienced names. The two best performers are Langella and Mark Rylance as defense attorney William Kunstler. Langella does an excellent job of characterization with these little facial, physical touches that sell it. (I guess when if you have a very distinctive voice you'd try extra hard too make sure people see the character and not the actor.) Rylance brings a really different energy than the soft-spoken roles I've seen him do in the past.
Overall, I highly recommend this.
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