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Union soldiers escort Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) to trial where she faces charges of plotting to assassinate President Lincoln in Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator.” |
Had Oliver Stone directed the Lincoln assassination drama “The Conspirator,” historical accuracy might have suffered in the service of creating political paranoia and some loopy visuals.
But “The Conspirator” was directed by Robert Redford as an earnest, plodding, hopelessly chatty chronicle of the unjust and immoral actions of the U.S. leadership in the aftermath of the president’s murder.
Civil war hero and now attorney Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy, armed with a suitable American accent) is surprised when his law mentor (Tom Wilkinson) pushes him to take the case of Mary Surratt (a supremely pale Robin Wright), one of eight people arrested in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln.
It’s instantly apparent the Union military is willing to throw justice under the stagecoach to make someone — anyone with Southern leanings — an example, and so poor Aiken seemed doomed opposite the biased judge General Hunter (Colm Meaney), prosecuting General Holt (slithery villainous Danny Huston) and vengeful Secretary of War Stanton (Kevin Kline).
Redford doesn’t seem all that excited about telling this story, and it shows in the narrative’s measured pace, its bland sepia tone and Mark Isham’s score that does little for our emotional investment. (Read more…)