The
Conspirator
Based on the true story, and it's up to you to figure out if you
believe the version told here, Robin Wright stars as Mary Surratt - the
owner of a boarding house in DC where the men who conspired to kill
President Lincoln, Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward
used to hold their planning sessions. After Lincoln's assassination,
the country is in turmoil and mourning, so Secretary of War, and
Lincoln confidante, Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline), moves swiftly to have
the conspirators rounded up and put on trial.
Surratt claims she is innocent with no participation in the plot, and
young Civil War hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) is cajoled into
defending her by his mentor, Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson).
Aiken is convinced of her guilt like most of the nation, but, as he
dives deeper into the case, he starts to question Surratt's guilt, the
process and the fairness of what is happening in the proceedings.
Is Mary Surratt guilty?
Does it even matter?
It's another movie with an amazing cast, but McAvoy has the righteous
indignation that makes The Conspirator hook you. You'll love
his
outrage at the twists and turns of the case, and the unfairness of the
proceedings, but the performance is a great one because he builds it
like a crescendo. McAvoy has Aiken start off aloof and assuming guilt,
but, as the movie progresses and he gets deeper into the case, we feel
the confusion and the conflict growing in him, until it explodes and
Aiken tries to right what he starts to feel is an inevitable injustice.
However, The Conspirator
does feel like a small movie. Is director Robert Redford trying to give
us a sense of the confinement Surratt feels in the tribunal room and
prison, or just making up for a small budget? I am guessing budget.
The movie could use more trial scenes and evidence introduced by both
sides, and The Conspirator lacks that one, big, massive moment
to rock
our worlds, but it does have several larger ones that capture your
attention (they light rock our world, like a John Mayer song).
Rated
PG-13 for some violent content.
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