THE CONSPIRATOR

With Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline, Danny Huston, Tom Wilkinson, Alexis Bledel, Colm Meaney, Toby Kebbell

Written by James D. Solomon
Directed by Robert Redford

Robert Redford returns to the director's chair with this look at Lincoln's assassination, but with the focus on the aftermath and the accused.

Most of us know that John Wilkes Booth shot and killed American president Abraham Lincoln in a theatre. But we're not all aware that there was a conspiracy to not only kill him, but also the vice president and secretary of state. With some slipping away and others cornered and killed, one woman ended up on trial for the conspiracy – Mary Surratt. She was the boarding house owner where Booth and his affiliates allegedly met and conspired to execute the assassinations. Frederick Aiken, a young civil war veteran who'd just become a lawyer is assigned to defend her. As a patriot he doesn't want to be her council, but has no choice. In front of the military tribunal, he soon experiences the bias against her from all sides, and whether she was involved or not, everyone is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, a right being trampled on by those in charge of proceedings – the death penalty looming. Putting his personal feelings and prejudice aside, he throws his full weight into giving her a fair trial against enormous odds, costing him friends and loved ones.

A dramatic historic drama with riveting performances and a different court room take than those most viewers have grown accustomed to via the many modern law TV shows.

4 / C
- Paul Blom

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
- A - B - C

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice