Review of The Conspirator (2011) by Spangle — 12 Oct 2017

Criticized upon release for being stiff, stodgy, dated, and dull, Robert Redford's The Conspirator is hardly deserving of its reputation. Though perhaps a perfect film for history classes across America, The Conspirator is nonetheless a riveting tale about the miscarriage of justice. Though its story of a young lawyer being tasked with handling a case that has been pre-determined by the judge, jury, and prosecution, only for that young lawyer to slowly come to see their defendant as innocent, The Conspirator is a film that rises above its cliches through a truly engrossing true story and the powerful re-telling put together by Redford. Strong acting hardly hurts matters. Chilling in the corruption depicted and a reminder of the blood that has always been on the hands of the justice system, The Conspirator is a film that may not re-invent the courtroom drama genre, but often displays what can make the genre so impactful and thrilling.

Cited by many critics as a response the post-9/11 environment in which witch hunts were held for anybody believed to be even remotely connected to terrorism in the name of bringing the country together and allowing it to heal after tragedy, The Conspirator is actually so much more. Yes, it can apply to the post-9/11 world, but it can also apply to the red scare, the assassination of John F. Kennedy (or any other President), or even any number of seemingly "open-and-shut" cases that are argued in courtrooms across America. The Conspirator is a cry into the abyss for Americans to wake up and realize that, all too often, the truth is a foreign concept in the justice system. The pre-conceived notions of those involved and the desire of the prosecution to get a conviction at all costs is instead the order of business. There is no presumption of innocence, rather a guilty until proven guilty for many in the system with prosecutions willing to bend the rules to get the results they want and judges putting up blockades in front of the defense whenever they can. In The Conspirator, we see Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) experience this after being accused of being a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As the owner of the boarding house in which many meetings by the conspirators were held and the mother of a man who held many of those meetings, Mary's innocence is never under any question by those in power. However, in the name of getting vengeance and providing the country with the sacrificial lamb they so crave, Mary is railroaded. With her son John (Johnny Simmons) in hiding after the assassination, there is no way for Mary to get out. Given a military trial alongside the other alleged co-conspirators with no chance for appeal, a prosecution who threatens jail time for those who disrupt the narrative, and a Secretary of War willing to bend any rule and display his own influence to get somebody from the Surratt family to hang, Mary is dead the moment she walks into the courtroom. Tried in the court of public opinion to the point that the trial is merely a moot point, Mary Surratt's case is just one example of somebody who did not receive a fair trial. Though parallels to the absolute patriotism, desire to heal after tragedy, and trial-by-fire style are certainly in line with the post-9/11 world, it is in this railroading and tragedy that The Conspirator shows the flaws in the justice system. This trial is not one stuck in 1865. It is one that is happening now in the alleged hall of justice down the street. Somewhere in America, the justice system is failing somebody due to their lack of influence or the fact that nobody believes them as that truth does not match with their present narrative. The Conspirator is a film that shows these gaping holes have always been there and, in that, it is incredibly chilling and horrifying to watch. To see how little has changed with regard to vengeance being the point of the justice and prison system to this very day instead of finding the truth, The Conspirator stands as a solemn testament to the way in which America has strayed from the laws that govern her.

In telling this tragic tale of a woman left behind a system more concerned with revenge, The Conspirator is an incredibly powerful film. As we see the world of Mary Surratt crumble all around her and her family, there is incredible empathy. As we see the world of her attorney and war hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) collapse around for having the gall to defend her, our heart aches. While the film's narrative formula may be one that has been done before, Redford's ability to create emotional resonance, tension, and to leave the audience thoroughly appalled by this miscarriage of justice, is what makes The Conspirator such a gripping watch. It is a hard film to watch, but one that is necessary for every American to watch. The slow and methodical pacing only benefits this as we see the slow, pronounced descent into chaos occur before our eyes.