Netflix Chong Ou's major drama "The Trial of Seven Gentlemen in Chicago" uses history to map today's American politics
US News Express Maggie Ma reports
Earlier this year, despite the threat of the new crown epidemic, large-scale demonstrations broke out across the United States due to a police shooting of an African-American suspect. In fact, similar conflicts are not uncommon in the United States. They often move from good original intentions to loss of control, and even lead to robberies, riots, and innocent people suffer. At the same time, all kinds of fake news and rumors on social networks have made it difficult to calm the anger. The "Chicago Seven Gentlemen Trial" that took place in the United States in the late 1960s was an event that attracted worldwide attention. What happened before and after happened to echo the reality. There are many lessons to be learned. "Chicago Seven Gentlemen Trial", written and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, brings together many outstanding Hollywood actors at present, and has become the key blockbuster of Netflix's Olympics this year. It will be launched on October 16th. Its goal It is to tell people: The most peaceful and effective way to express their political attitude is to vote.
US News Express was invited to attend the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Screenwriter and director Alan Sorkin also attended the interview in person. Although the epidemic has not yet passed, the premiere ceremony has been changed from the previous theater to the car theater, but the film crew restored the Chicago Central Park scene where the pro-democracy movement and the police conflict occurred at the time, and the antibody slogan one after another in the film was played on the spot: The world is paying attention!" (The World is Wathcing), suddenly makes people feel like returning to the scene of this movement 50 years ago.
Chicago Seven Gentlemen Background
"The Trial of Seven Gentlemen in Chicago" originated from an anti-Vietnam War demonstration by the American people. In 1968, a number of pro-democracy organizations held anti-war protests during the Democratic Party Congress in Chicago. It was originally a peaceful march, but suddenly someone in the crowd shouted: "Come on!" This led to a riot, and the police began to beat the demonstrators. , Many pro-democracy leaders were arrested. But at that time, because the police could not find evidence to prove who caused the riot, they did not prosecute the arrested person.
Unexpectedly, after the president changed, Nixon took office. As the death toll in the Vietnam War continues to increase, the country's anti-war sentiment has become increasingly high. At this time, the newly appointed Ministry of Justice decided to investigate the anti-war riot a year ago again, hoping to find a few leaders to kill the chickens to prevent more similar incidents from happening. The eight pro-democracy representatives in the activities that year were arrested and prosecuted for conspiracy, and a long and chaotic trial process began. One of the African-American defendants, Bobby Seale, was the leader of the African-American pro-democracy organization "Black Panther" at the time. He refused a white lawyer to represent him due to racial conflicts. However, his lawyer was unable to attend the operation and was tried separately. But he also fought directly with judges in court on many occasions, and was charged with a number of contempt of court.
The remaining seven defendants are all white men, including university pro-democracy leaders and hippie youth leaders, representing higher education scholars and abandon youth who like rock music, poetry and marijuana. Although the political views of the two parties are not exactly the same, they both hope to prevent the Vietnam War, and both enjoy high appeal in their organizations.
Because the American judicial order was not perfect at that time, the judges in this trial were arrogant, and the seven defendants also showed an overly casual attitude. The two sides often quarreled in court, which became the most comical trial in American history. . Although all seven people were convicted at the beginning, in 1972, the "Seven Gentlemen" successfully appealed and all were released.
What does this incident tell us?
The film carefully reviewed the entire incident, showing how a peaceful parade became a bloodshed, and how it evolved into a trial like a reality TV farce, and it also made people realize that history is repeating itself in the United States. Whether it is the "Black people's fate is also a fate" movement, the current election debates, and the daily disputing social networks, they all show that people have not learned lessons from history. There are many things worth pondering.
For example, in the film, there is a debate on who should act first in the riots. Although the demonstrations of tens of thousands of people are permitted by US law, such gatherings often easily lead to violent clashes. It may even be an unnamed person in the crowd that may provoke the incident. In the end, many innocent people and the police were injured. Not only can no one know who did it first, but even the purpose of the parade was blurred, and the good original intention was replaced by anger and violence. The same is true for conflicts on the Internet. A person’s words may sometimes prove their authenticity, but they are circulated on the Internet. If more people are passed on, they become "facts." In the end, no one may pursue the root cause and the true facts. What is it.
In addition, the pro-democracy leaders who were prosecuted were victims of being "selected" in the political game. However, in the initial stage of the trial, people only saw the chaos they caused, but ignored why they were brought to the court for trial only a year later. What is the political conspiracy behind this? The description of this paragraph in the film is the most brilliant, but it also makes people see a lot of helplessness. At the moment, any investigation involving high-level leaders cannot be conducted, and it can only be regarded as a conspiracy theory in the end.
Another fact that cannot be ignored in this film is the influence and importance of young people in changing history. The pro-democracy representatives indicted in the film may not have played an effective role in the parade, but they took advantage of the opportunity that the trial became the focus of the world afterwards, turning the trial into their political propaganda position, and ultimately did not forget all this. The purpose is to fight the war. Although standing in the dock, they have brought more influence to the people and gained more support.
The film group drama is wonderful and sharp
The screenwriter of the film Alan Sorkin won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for his "Social Network" (Social Network), which was also the Oscar for Best Picture of the year. His script has always left a deep impression on people through a lot of sharp dialogue and intense conflict. He said in an interview after the film’s premiere that the film was written 13 years ago by the great director Spielberg. It was Spielberg who originally wanted to guide, but because the screenwriters’ union went on strike and the progress was delayed, Spielberg reluctantly withdrew due to the schedule conflict. Until recent years, Spielberg decided to hand over the script to Sokin to direct him, and hoped to see the film released before the 2020 election.
Sokkin gives the film a very fast pace, from the beginning to the end like a running train, non-stop. Moreover, there are many characters in the film, which requires a lot of background knowledge. It also focuses on group dramas and quick dialogues. It does increase the challenge for the audience when watching it.
The most impressive part of the film is the beginning. Through quick editing and dialogue, several main characters appear one after another, showing their identities and personalities. The subsequent court debate scenes were also particularly exciting. Often, many people spoke closely, and sometimes even interrupted each other. It was always like a fierce debate, full of emotion and anger.
But just in this seemingly long dialogue scene, a lot of humor was added to make the story look not boring. In particular, several defendants, judges and defense lawyers have distinct personalities. The interaction between them is like a ball game, which is much more interesting than watching a news documentary. The hippie leaders played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeremy Strong are especially vividly portrayed. They often speak surprisingly, with their unique appearance and extraordinary behavior. It is in sharp contrast with many gentlemen in suits and shoes.
Mark Rylance (Mark Rylance) plays the defense attorney of the Seven Gentlemen, eloquent and constant, is a warrior in the court; for starring in the "Harry Potter" rumor "Where are the magical animals", the British actor Ah Eddie Redmayne (Eddie Redmayne) starred in the film as the leader of the university democracy movement Tom Hayden, quite academic, but also reflected the impulse and emotionality of the student leader.
In the film, the hippie leader Abbie Hoffman, starring Sasha Byron Cohen, named the subject of the film in a sentence in court. Everyone has their own views on the current political situation and hopes to change the status quo in their own way, but The most effective and peaceful way is still the general election every four years. This is also the main reason why the film was released before the election. Radical students and civilians often have a lot of emotions and anger, and have the ability to change history, but they are also the group that is most easily exploited and incited. This film was made for this generation.
The film is currently 93% recommended by the media. It will be launched on Netflix on October 16, and is optimistic about competing for the Oscar for Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Group Performance by the Screen Actors Guild.
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