Robert Redford is back behind the camera for his first directed film since 2007 with THE CONSPIRATOR.
It’s 1865 and America is reeling from the assassination of its most beloved president, Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell, THE VETERAN). The country, particularly Senator Stanton (Kevin Kline, THE ICE STORM), rushes for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Quickly each of the conspirators are hunted down and either killed or arrested. One of the people arrested and readied for trial is John Surratt’s mother, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright, STATE OF PLAY) who is accused of harbouring and conspirator with the assassins. Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy, X-MEN FIRST CLASS), a Civil War Veteran and lawyer, believes Mary Surratt to be guilty but is forced to represent her. As the trial goes on the obvious whitewash of proceedings and corrupt manner of the government’s involvement in trying to achieve the outcome they want opens Aiken’s eyes to the possibility that Surratt could be innocent and has to look passed his prejudices to understand that everyone deserves a fair and unbiased trial, no matter the circumstances.
The film might be thought to be dealing with the assassination of Lincoln but is actually about the first real injustice in the modern American legal system. These types of legal and social injustices mixed with American history is one of the repeated themes and concepts that have run through Redford’s previous films, whether ones directed or starring the American ‘film institution’ known as Robert Redford.
Redford and Cinematographer, Newton Thomas Sigel, do a modest job of portraying the post-Civil War America, making the landscape look like a Thomas Cole or Robert Wood painting, adorning the town and countryside in gold and greens. And moments hark back to the good old days of QUIZ SHOW when Redford knew how to create tension in a scene, felt in the courtroom and in the closing moments of the film.
The film is chock full of some great acting talent including Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson (MICHAEL CLAYTON), Evan Rachel Wood (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE), Robin Wright and Colm Meaney (STAR TREK: TNG). Of course the break out of the film is James McAvoy. He is an actor who has shown his acting chops ever since the first season of SHAMELESS, which every girlfriend seems to still talk about. He has followed up with great performances in ATONEMENT and THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND but has been a tad lacking in recent films such as WANTED and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS where his powers are only activated by touching his temples while explaining his ‘oh so funny’ jokes. THE CONSPIRATOR is his return to form with a great character to bite into even if it takes a few minutes to get his tongue around the accent.
Overall the film is enjoyable but does at times seem like an extended, period piece version of LAW & ORDER. All the actors, mainly Robin Wright, seem to be hinting at the Academy for a possible nomination but does not mean they are try hard performances. The film is highly enjoyable and very insightful to an interesting time period where witch hunts happened under the guise of people seeking justice rather than superstition and fear.
THE CONSPIRATOR is out now.
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