Instead of celebrating the death of one person, today is a good day to remember those murdered on September 11, 2001 and those lives lost since then because of that day’s events. It makes me think of Eddie Vedder, accompanied by Neil Young and Mike McReady, performing “The Long Road,” at the benefit concert that aired on September 21, 2001. Although the song was written years earlier by Vedder and Nusrat fateh ali Khan, it fit the occasion perfectly, much like Bruce Springsteen’s “My City of Ruins,” which also was written under different circumstances but performed at the concert.
And the wind keeps rollin’, And the sky keeps turning gray, And the sun is setting, The sun will rise another day.
On April 17 in 1865, Mary Surratt was arrested for conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. In 2011 on that date, the American Film Company released its first film, The Conspirator. The movie is about Mary Surratt and directed by Robert Redford and starring Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline, Danny Huston, and Tom Wilkinson.
From a young age, we learn the name of John Wilkes Booth. We know he is the man who shot Abraham Lincoln. His chase and capture are recounted in the recent book, Manhunt (2006), by James L. Swanson.
But the names of the others who allegedly conspired with Booth are less heard: Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, John Surratt, and Mary Surratt. A number of additional people were also arrested and convicted of crimes, including Dr. Samuel Mudd.
Mary Surratt: “The Conspirator”
The Conspirator centers exclusively on one of the more interesting accused conspirators, Mary Surratt. In doing so, Redford maintains focus in what might otherwise be an unwieldy long story.
We may be curious to know more about the other conspirators and to spend a few minutes with Lincoln before he is killed. But Redford keeps the story tight and aimed on the stoic Surratt (Wright) and her passionate lawyer Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), following Aiken as he struggles with his responsibility to defend Surratt.
Currently on the Rotten Tomatoes website, the critics rating for The Conspirator is 56% and the audience rating is a much-higher 71%, which makes sense. The movie is not an exciting historical romp like The King’s Speech (2010), and the story is told somewhat conventionally. But it is an interesting story that audience members may appreciate more than critics, who might want a film that is more daring.
Still, the fine acting and look of the film make it well above a History Channel special. All of the principal actors do a very good job (although Justin Long seems out of his time period even with the goofy mustache). And, as in Redford’s A River Runs Through It (1992), the lighting effects seem like another character, making for numerous scenes bathed in beautiful clean natural sunlight.
Overall, the movie is engaging and addresses a lesser known aspect of the Lincoln assassination. I will not reveal how everything comes out, but during the prosecution of Mary Surratt and even until today, there are still questions about whether or not she had any involvement in the conspiracy of which she was accused.
Parallels With Modern Issues
Others have noticed that the movie has some parallels to the modern debate about military tribunals. Kevin Kline’s Secretary of War Edwin Stanton spouts concerns that echo in our Age of Terrorism. Anthony Lane at The New Yorker believes that Redford belabored the parallels with today’s debates about military trials for accused terrorists a little too much.
By contrast, I did not think the parallels were overdone. Instead, the movie would have been much more topical and challenging for viewers had it been released several years ago instead of in 2011. Just as more people spoke up on Mary Surratt’s behalf years after her trial, this aspect of the movie seems a little late too. Yet, the issue is still topical.
Another contemporary issue underlying The Conspirator is how innocent persons accused of outrageous crimes may be convicted or almost convicted of crimes they did not do. The Death Penalty Information Center website notes that since 1973, there have been more than one hundred people released from death row because of evidence of their innocence.
Additionally, there are a number of people who have been executed with genuine questions remaining about whether they were innocent. One may debate the extent of the problem and the exact number of condemned innocent who spent years on death row, but the clear risk is certainly troubling. Even in civilian trials with our current constitutional protections, the innocent still may be convicted and condemned, and this realization has contributed to several states eliminating capital punishment in recent years.
Conclusion
Conclusion? Conspirator is a well-made straightforward drama about an important event in American history. Although it may not be one of the top few movies of the year, it is a period courtroom drama in a league with Amistad (1997) as less than awe-inspiring but nonetheless engaging, educational, entertaining, and worth your time.
>
What did you think of The Conspirator? Leave a comment.
Works of art must struggle to be able to say something about major historical events close in time to the events. While the events are occurring, we lack perspective, so movies often fail to give us much insight into our own time periods.
For example, although the United States was involved in escalations in Viet Nam since at least the early 1960s, the first great Viet Nam War movie was 1978’s The Deer Hunter (and to some extent Coming Home from the same year), which came out about three years after the fall of Saigon. Apocalypse Now (1979) came out a year later, but most other excellent movies about the period came another decade later: Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Hamburger Hill (1987), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). One of the few movies we remember that was released during the war was The Green Berets (1968), a movie that has a much different perspective than the later movies.
Similarly, we have not yet seen great movies about the events of September 11, 2001. There are capable movies, like World Trade Center (2006) and United 93 (2006), but those movies do not give us much new perspective on the events. My favorite movie about 9/11 is not really about 9/11. Spike Lee’s beautiful 25th Hour (2002) is about a man in his last day before he has to report to prison. But the film is set in New York not long after the 9/11 attacks and does an outstanding job of showing indirectly what New York was like in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
A few movies have had some success showing their own time period. Best Years of Our Lives (1946), while not above criticism, does seem to fairly reflect the lives of American men and their families when the men returned after World War II. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932) shows the terror and suffering of the Depression while that economic crisis was still ongoing. But such movies are an exception.
The Company Men (2010), like 2009’s Up in the Air, attempts to show America during the current recession. The film’s perspective is through the eyes of three men struggling after their corporate employer lays them off in massive downsizing. The movie features some excellent actors, including Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, and Kevin Costner — who has a small role but almost steals the movie in every scene where he appears. The movie shows how the layoffs impact the men because, like many of us in the modern world, their identities are connected to their jobs. So, they struggle to find meaning in their unemployed states, while also struggling to deal with bills and family relationships.
One may criticize the movie for focusing on high-level corporate workers instead of the many working class women and men who have lost their jobs in the last several years. The movie wants us to feel sorry for Ben Affleck’s character because he has to sell his Porsche after getting laid off, making us wonder if the film-makers are that disconnected to the suffering of most people during this recession. But the Porsche-selling serves a purpose in showing how the character tries to hold onto the various status trappings even as the rest of his world falls apart. Also, I suspect that part of the reason for focusing on corporate workers was to show them directly interacting with the corporate owners who are making the decisions. But there is something too simplistic about the movie to focus on the bosses being evil caricatures, while the other main characters have somewhat predictable story arcs.
Still, the drama is entertaining, and one must give the movie credit for attempting to show some of the human costs of the Great Recession. Although movies about current historical events often fail, we need help in processing the meanings behind those events. While relative failures like The Company Men, The Green Berets, and United 93 are not going to be remembered as great movies about their respective time periods, I am glad these movies were made and that I saw them. In many ways, they make way for the great movies to come by testing the waters and raising the questions that will be addressed later.
A great movie has yet to be made about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, but there have been many more attempts on those subjects than has been made about the Great Recession. And each movie about the wars start to tell us a little more about those events and about ourselves. And because those wars have been around longer than the current recession, there are some good movies on that topic, such as The Hurt Locker (2009) and In the Valley of Elah (2007). So keep trying Hollywood. You will get it.
Conclusion? The Company Men is an entertaining movie. Although it is not a great movie and is somewhat predictable, the high quality acting and realistic story about current events is worthwhile viewing.
What do you think of these movies? Leave a comment?
(2006), by James L. Swanson.
