5 Snouts Up for Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7

(:)(:)(:)(:)(:) a rare 5 snouts up for Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix now.  With the exception of The Social Network I pretty much love everything Sorkin has created, starting with A Few Good Men, The American President, Sports Night (which if you haven’t watched this series, you gotta—SOOO funny, may not be streaming though), The West Wing of course (except for a couple of regrettable seasons) and also loved The Newsroom. Never really got into Studio 60 (but neither did anyone else).  Charlie Wilson’s War and Moneyball other terrific films.

I know his characters pretty much all talk the same (fast, smart, repeating phrases back and forth).  I know he never has good female characters—while everyone loved the character of CJ Cregg on The West Wing, let’s face it, most of that character’s nuance came from Allison Janney’s brilliant bringing to life of it, not the writing.

All of these criticisms of Sorkin apply to The Trial of the Chicago 7 and I still loved it.  Sorkin has a knack for giving us what we need in the time we need it. All movies say more about the year they’re released than the year they’re set in, and this one is no exception.  This film is a great cathartic release of pent up anger against the (outgoing?) Trump administration And police violence.  Sorkin is not subtle about this prompting this—hence the hilarious Onion News piece Aaron Sorkin Defends Taking Liberties with Scene in Which All Members of Chicago Seven Endorse Joe Biden.

Born in 1961 and raised to watch the news, I of course have been aware of the Chicago Seven and Have been a lifelong Tom Haden fan (especially since he was still pretty much the lone far left vote in the California legislature representing the “People’s  Republic of Santa Monica” at the time we moved to Sacramento in 1997).  It’s right there on Netflix begging to be watched.  If you haven’t yet, do so.