It was impossible to be at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and not hear the immediate reactions to Robert Redford’s newly debuted historical feature The Conspirator. Preachy, political and sappy were constant adjectives combined with a comparison to a History Channel reenactment. So when I was finally able to see it for myself, six months of negativity had set my expectations quite low. As a result, I didn’t nearly dislike it as much as I expected. In fact, I didn’t dislike it at all, though I won’t debate any of the descriptors I’ve already lead with.
The Conspirator can be both political and preachy as it draws a narrative closely related to current affairs. Additionally, the sap begins to ooze the further along you get in the 122-minute running time, each scene becoming increasingly syrupy as the melodrama ratchets up with each defining speech. But solid performances, lush cinematography, a softly appropriate score and an intriguing story kept me going despite all its flaws.
Telling the story of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), The Conspirator begins the night of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and delves into the aftermath centered on a government willing to do anything to see anyone tried and convicted if only to appease the people and get the country back on track. Ultimately, the search for a villain ends with Mary Surratt, whose boarding house is where the meetings were held, devising the plan to assassinate Lincoln and his closest staff.
Surratt becomes subject to a military tribunal where her guilt is all but assured before the first witness takes the stand. Reluctant to defend her, Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) is assigned the task at the urging of Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson). Even Aiken assumes she’s guilty, but as the film wears on thoughts of justice and reasonable doubt seep into his mind as a lack of evidence and coerced witnesses become the norm. This is the aspect of the story Redford beats into our heads time and time again, and serves as the film’s one major blemish as it results in other annoyances.
The Conspirator is sure to be attacked by those declaring it revisionist history and I think the charge will be lead by historians just as much as by those noticing the political bend. I can’t argue these points, as I said earlier, all critiques of The Conspirator are relatively spot on, be them good or bad, but some solid filmmaking kept me interested.
McAvoy and Wright are quite good, more so when they aren’t asked to read screenwriter James Solomon’s rather hammy lines. McAvoy gets the lion’s share during some of the more ridiculous courtroom scenes. Scenes you’d expect to see on CBS prime time rather than in a feature film. I also thought Evan Rachel Wood did a modest job with the role of Surratt’s daughter Anna, though she too is unable to work much magic with the clunky dialogue as her final scene in the courtroom is the moment the melodrama comes to a serious head.
The one aspect of the film I most appreciated had very little to do with the overall story at all. While Aiken is defending Surratt, whom even he believes is guilty, his two oldest friends Nicholas Baker (Justin Long) and William Hamilton (James Badge Dale) share their doubt and question his reasons, but when he needs their help and support they offer it freely and without question. This camaraderie is The Conspirator‘s lone piece of separation from other films of its kind.
In the majority of films dealing with such a situation those closest to you are typically the first to go. They abandon their friend at the drop of the hat if only to create a third act reunion to tug at your heart strings. I have no idea how supportive Baker and Hamilton were historically, but the emphasis placed on their loyalty in this film was something I appreciated. Of course, you have the shoddy performance of Alexis Bledel as Aiken’s wife to counterbalance everything I just said. So as you can see, this is a film dependent on a give and take relationship with the audience.
Overall your money would probably best be spent renting The Conspirator on DVD or Blu-ray, but along with some good performances, Newton Thomas Sigel’s cinematography is gorgeous on the big screen and I thought Mark Isham’s score struck a perfect balance. The film is more-or-less a high-priced TV movie anyway, but there are some aspects I took away from it that, at the very least, made it worth the watch.
