https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-trial-chicago-7-180976063/
The True Story of ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
Aaron Sorkin’s newest movie dramatizes the clash between protestors on the left and a federal government driven to making an example of them
Jeanne Dorin McDowell - Contributing Writer
October 15, 2020
It was one of the most shocking scenes to ever take place in an American courtroom. On October 29, 1969, Bobby Seale, a co-founder of the Black Panther Party and one of eight co-defendants standing trial for inciting the riots that erupted at Chicago's 1968 Democratic National Convention, was gagged and chained to his chair for refusing to obey Judge Julius Hoffman’s contempt citations.
Seale hadn’t been involved in organizing the anti-Vietnam War demonstration, which began peacefully before turning into a bloody confrontation with police that resulted in nearly 700 arrests. He had spent only four hours in Chicago that weekend, having travelled there to fill in as a speaker. Outraged at being falsely accused, Seale vociferously interrupted the proceeding, asking to represent himself and denouncing the judge as a “racist pig.” Hoffman, an irascible 74-year-old with blatant disdain for the defendants, ordered Seale restrained. The image of a Black man in shackles, rendered by courtroom artists because cameras weren’t allowed in the courtroom, was circulated by media around the world.
This unforgettable scene is recreated in Netflix’ upcoming courtroom drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, which starts streaming on October 16—52 years after the real proceedings unfolded in downtown Chicago. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, A Few Good Men), the movie dramatizes the infamous, at times farcical, trial of eight men accused by President Nixon’s Justice Department of criminal conspiracy and crossing state lines to incite a riot. Dragging on for almost five months—at times devolving into chaos and political theater—the trial illuminated the deepening schisms in a country torn apart by the Vietnam War, tectonic cultural shifts and attempts by the Nixon Administration to quash peaceful antiwar dissent and protest. The drama and histrionics in the courtroom were reflected in daily headlines. Protesters outside the courthouse each day chanted the iconic mantra: “The whole world is watching!”
… trailer at link… more …
JustWatch
https://www.justwatch.com › us › movie › the-trial-of-the-chicago-7
The Trial of the Chicago 7 streaming: watch online - JustWatch
How and where to watch "The Trial of the Chicago 7" online on Netflix and Prime Video - including free options.
:/
(We’ve been here before.)
= new reply since forum marked as read