The trial of the Chicago 7 is a strong retelling of the events that happened after the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. This convention was primarily tasked with evaluating the US ongoing participation in the Vietnam War. A lot of men had been deployed and there was rising dissatisfaction about their involvement by groups of protesters whose activities could be tied to the leading faces of the 'Chicago 7'.
The trial which is based on true events is described as being political. From how the prosecuting team(made of the US Attorney and US assistant attorney) is told to win the case against the Chicago 7, to the conspiracy of forcefully trying to draw links between the separate groups behind these leading faces, you'd get the general feeling that these men who'd never met or made a unified protest arrangement before they'd been put on trial as conspirators, were merely used as pawns by those who had the power and weapons to arrange for it.
This trial is set in an America that is still partial and racist. It was initially meant to be the trial of the Chicago 8, but because of very demeaning way Bobby Seale, the only black man and co-founder of the Black Panther party had been publicly striped of both his rights to a lawyer and representation of himself by himself, and the physical gagging and violence, he was allowed a separate trial, leaving us to focus on the seven white men from varying backgrounds whose unifying marker was their love for their country's people.
There is so much wrong in the America of the 1960s. The drunkenness with power from an unfair Judge Julius Jennings Hoffman, whose awareness of his leading role in the ridiculousness of his court's culture and rulings becomes less and less apparent to him as it becomes more glaring to us, is one of the ways this film helps to draw our attention to the brutality of those times.
The main theme is police violence. The Chicago 7 were on trial for instigating riots after crossing state lines, when in fact the police had previously been found guilty of this exact crime. With the whole world watching, they released tear gas and removed their badges as they injured thousands of protesters who'd repeatedly been denied permits by a corrupt mayor. This crowd only responded to the offensive- without- reason attacks made by the police on peaceful onlookers of the protests.
There's a lot to say about this film, from the great cast to how these men held themselves in court. There are dramatic moments to be found in the exchanges between Judge Hoffman and the defendants which include Yippie co-founders Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Judge Hoffman makes his redundant point several times that he is in fact not related to the defendant Abbie Hoffman. There are multiple contempt of court handed down by Hoffman and you'd not be strange for wondering about the mental state of this ludicrous judge.
I watched this to see if I could find a connection between this film and the current #EndSARS movement in Nigeria, the country I was raised. For a protest that's currently against police brutality, they share the similarity of being systems that had/have to be fought, disbanded or reformed.
This film is a strong statement and a good recommend if you're looking for resources on police brutality.