The Conspirator

by Edward Dunn

The Conspirator
PG-13
122 minutes
Director: Charles Robert Redford
Writers: James D. Solomon, Gregory Bernstein
Evan Rachel Wood, James McAvoy, Alexis Robin Wright, Justin Long, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Norman Reedus, Toby Kebbell,  onathan Groff, Danny Huston, Stephen Root, Johnny Simmons, James Badge Dale,Colm Meaney, Shea Whigham, Chris Bauer, Gerald Bestrom
Warning: SPOILERS are in this review. For those unfamiliar with the assassination of Lincoln, it would be wise to steer clear of this review; which would include those of us who are products of the American public education system.

All the world's great civilizations have followed the same path. From bondage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy back to bondage. If we are to be the exception to history, then we must break the cycle, for those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. 
                        - Molly Johnson 
           
The above quote is rife with grammatical errors; it is trite, banal, and uninspired. It seems like a kid in elementary school wrote it.
 So who is Molly Johnson?

She is a character in the movie Swing Vote. Yes, I actually paid full price to see Swing Vote, when it was playing in theaters.  In a movie starring Kevin Costner, I expected a nuanced, in-depth analysis of American democracy. Instead, all I got was a fifth-grade civics lesson; one completely devoid of intellectual rigor and honesty.

This film is more of a tenth-grade civics lesson. The Conspirator is accurate historically, almost to a fault. The actual trial has been documented extensively.  Events are portrayed almost exactly as courtroom proceedings have described it. In spite of all of this, I found myself captivated by the events in the courtroom; then again I have always been a sucker for courtroom drama. Like Family Law, featuring the ever-so-talented, Tony Danza. Another example: as a teenager, when my parents left the house, I would just flip on the TV and JAG off, but I digress.

In this movie, events occurring outside the courtroom are not as well thought out, or to put it much more bluntly, boring. There were many long, drawn out scenes, and the cheesy melodrama did not help much.

I usually would not devote this much space to introduce characters, but this film has more characters than It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.  Below is a list of key characters, and character descriptions.
List of Key Characters
Character
Description
Actor (Last Name)/
Where have I seen this actor?
Frederick Aiken 
A lawyer who defends Mary Surratt in a military tribunal. He reluctantly accepted this assignment. 
(McEvoy),  plays Robbie Turner in Atonement  
Joseph Holt 
Judge Advocate General of the United States Army.
(Huston), Jack Kevorkian’s Lawyer in You Don’t Know Jack (HBO Movie) 
Reverdy Johnson 
Assigned to represent Mary Suratt, but delegates this responsibility to Frederick Aiken. 
(Wilkinson), plays a doctor in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-his character was always erasing Kirsten Dunst’s (his secretary) memory; for sole purpose of sleeping with her.
Edwin Stanton  
Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln. 
(Kline), plays U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon in Wild Wild West.
Mary Suratt 
On trial for aiding an abetting John Wilkes Booth
(Wright), plays Jenny in Forrest Gump.
John Suratt 
Mary Suratt’s son. He fled the country after Lincoln’s assassination.
(Simmons), Dylan Baxter in Evan Almighty.  Teenager #1 in Trucker. 
Anna Suratt
Mary Suratt’s daughter.
(Wood), plays Sarah Radcliff in one episode of Touched by an Angel. 
John Lloyd 
Rented a tavern from Mary Suratt. Key witness in the trial of Mary Suratt.
(Root), Newsradio, No Country for Old Men. More recently, Cedar Rapids.
Abe Lincoln
16th President of The United States of America. Regarded by many as the most handsome.
(Bestrom), First movie as a film actor. He’s been in a number of Civil War reenactments; at least I would presume so.
Sara Weston 
Romantic interest of Frederick Aiken.
(Bledel), Rory Gillmore in The Gillmore Girls.
Nicholas Baker 
A friend of Frederick Aiken. The two fought in the Civil War together.
(Long), plays the cool guy in Mac commercials … sigh…Going the Distance.
Justin Long seems ill-suited  for this type of movie. I am just not buying the fact that he was an officer in the Civil War. 
John  Wilkes Booth
Shot Lincoln.
(Kebbel) plays Drake Stone in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
 (For those of you paying attention: yes I do know a little too much about programming on the now-defunct WB network. I assure you, most of this is due to osmosis. )
In 1866, the trial of civilians before military tribunals was found to be unconstitutional. Talk about bad timing. They should have waited a bit longer to assassinate Lincoln. If they did, Mary Suratt would not have been executed. Yes, she would have spent the rest of her life in jail. This is all to protect her son, the real guilty party, the one who fled the country to avoid prosecution. As for the other conspirators, they would have received the same punishment, but the trial would have been fair.

The Conspirator, even with all these issues, is very much watchable.  The film’s strengths include: its exquisite cinematography, good acting/actors , costumes, and set design.  The people behind the scenes are what saved this movie.

This film could have been so much better.  The director is responsible for most of the movie’s shortcomings. He is capable of creating a much better movie, considering all resources he has at his disposal.

As founder of The Sundance Film festival,  Redford is in a unique position: he is the emperor of a film empire, but he chooses to rest comfortably, in an insular bubble of complacency, surrounded by sycophants.  

Should you see this movie? I don’t know, I suppose so.
Final Verdict: meh.
Oh, that’s right, ‘meh’ is not a numerical value.
72 out of a possible 100.
Fictional Depictions of Lincoln