We Are Here for Peace – The Trial of the Seven Gentlemen of Chicago
Today, let's talk about the movie "The Trial of the Seven Gentlemen of Chicago".
Titled The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), alias The Chicago Seven: The Shocking Trial (Hong Kong/Taiwan).
The Netflix-linked DreamWorks movie is long overdue.
As early as 13 years ago, DreamWorks intended to launch the film, and it was written by Hollywood's first screenwriter, Alan Sorkin. But the plan could not catch up with the changes, the director, actors and many other factors, the film was shelved for a time, until 2018 the film was directed by Alan Sorkin, there was no new progress.
This film is also the second self-written and directed film by Alan Sorkin, and his previous works "Jasmine Game", "Penalty Into Gold" and "Social Network" are also very famous, and audiences familiar with his film style can roughly understand the style of this film.
Thirteen years ago, in 2007, the filmmakers originally wanted to launch the film before the US election to clearly express the voice of reform.
In 2008, when the Democratic Party and the Republican McCain ran for president, the Democratic Party did not have a difficult time winning the election, and the film was not in a hurry to be released. This year, the situation is different, the Republican Party understands that Wang is running for re-election, and the filmmakers can't help but finally finish the film.
The chicago trial of the seven gentlemen takes place in the same context as the Republican Nixon came to power. Nixon and Wang, both Republicans, voted to release the film before the election and released it on September 25 this year, and the purpose is naturally self-evident.
"The Trial of the Seven Gentlemen of Chicago" is based on a famous historical event in the United States. In just a few minutes, through the rapid and sharp camera switching, the background of the story is explained.
Before entering the main scene of the trial, the film explains a series of famous historical events that occurred in the United States, which not only affected the course of American history, but also had an impact on the world.
In the 1960s, the United States was mired in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, and the anti-war sentiment in the country was fierce, and anti-war became the common voice of the people at the bottom.
On the other hand, the black affirmative action campaign launched by the famous equal rights fighter Martin Luther King Jr. intensified, and he successfully united all the blacks in the United States, making the ruling class feel a great threat, so that he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, and the anger of the black people in the United States reached its peak.
The "Black Panther" organization came into being, abandoning the non-violent model called for by Martin Luther King Jr. and beginning to take the line of armed revolution, even arming the mind with advanced ideas. After several major leaders were openly shot by U.S. agents, the "Black Panther" group was silenced.
More importantly, in the 1968 U.S. presidential election, Nixon, who ran for office with the slogan "Law and Order," began to kill chickens and monkeys, ordering the Justice Department to re-investigate the riots of a year ago.
During the Vietnam War in 1968, the Democratic Party of the United States held its 35th Democratic National Congress in Chicago, which was attended by half of the country's political leaders. The anti-war organizations heard the wind and brushed up on the application to hold a peaceful protest rally to express their anti-war demands.
Lenny Davis and Tom Hayden's Student for Civil Society (SDS), and Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin's Youth International (Yippies) all applied to the Chicago government for a march, which was rejected.
On the other hand, David Dylinger, as leader of the Mobilization to End the Vietnam War, also went to Chicago in solidarity with the Youth International Party. Lee Weiner and John Froin were also active as activists.
Bobby Searle, the president of the Black Panther Party, is going to Chicago for a speech.
The anti-war march was not approved by the Chicago government, but a steady stream of people marched according to the established plan. Unsurprisingly, the parade spiraled out of control, and the procession clashed with the police on a large scale. Prepared police officers moved quickly, wounded and arrested many of the participants, and launched trials of several of their main leaders.
In the beginning, the defendants were the eight above-mentioned people, and in addition to the seven leaders who participated in the march, Bobby Sear, the chairman of the Black Panther Party, arrested and tried them purely because the authorities were upset with him. During the trial, Bobby Sear was treated unfairly, and the government, fearing public opinion, acquitted him halfway through and tried him in a separate case, reducing the number of defendants from eight to seven. Known in history as the "Seven Gentlemen of Chicago".
The Black Panther Party did not enter the ranks of the Seven Gentlemen, but it was the most lamentable role.
The Black Panther Party, which was in the limelight at that time, fought for freedom and equality. They oppose the U.S. government, they believe that the world must be changed through long-term organization and mobilization of the people, they have even established armed forces, mass organizations and community planning, practiced the gun out of the barrel of the regime, provided free breakfast for poor children, and given political education to the community.
This frightened the ruling class, and since martin Luther King Jr. could be assassinated, it would not be a problem to kill a few more Panthers. In the film, the president of the Black Panther Party, Hampton, is ruthlessly shot and killed.
Who would have thought that years later, "Black Panther" would become a propaganda symbol for white people to appease black people, afraid that a movie would win a bunch of awards and disintegrate "Black Panther" from will.
The trial was nothing more than a political show.
Tom Hayden, one of the Seven Gentlemen of Chicago, initially admired democracy and the rule of law, desperately trying to prove his innocence. Others saw it clearly that the whole trial was just an inference of guilt, and all they could do as defendants was to make their voices heard by more people.
Countries that flaunt separation of powers and democracy and freedom end up going through the motions of the courts in order to achieve the goal of authoritarian rule. During the trial, the 37 witnesses found by the prosecution were all undercover police officers who had been arranged to enter the parade in advance. Any juror with a hint of sympathy for the accused was blackmailed and expelled from the jury. All testimony in favour of the defence was annulled ...
White people don't like the famous set of teachers, first arrested, the crime can be slowly found. Their usual style is that history is written by the victors, and the losers wait to be cut off. A rule sustained by violence is bound to be unpopular.
What is the cause of sin? When dealing with people of different skin colors, it is possible to assassinate directly, and when dealing with white people, it requires a whole bit of unwarranted civilized judgment.
The police and the army are violent tools used by the ruling class to maintain their rule, and they do not have the word "people" in front of their names. When the policemen laughed and took off their badges, they hit the people in front of them.
History screen (from left) Attorney Leonard Weinglass 7 defendants: Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman, Lee Weiner, David Dellinger, John Froines, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden Lawyer: William Kunstler
"The Trial of the Seven Gentlemen of Chicago" is a highly informative court film, and the film is interspersed with a lot of story background during the trial. Alan Sorkin's best play is the informative lines, comparable to machine gun lines. The originally boring court trial was filmed as a fiery confrontation between you and me.
The martial arts drama text shoot makes people see the blood boiling and the sense of strength is full. More than ten main characters have wonderful performances, although it is a group portrait play, each role is very vivid and distinctive.
It is predicted that "The Trial of the Seven Gentlemen of Chicago" will gain a lot in next year's awards season.
We come for peace,
But he was judged because of his thoughts.
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