The Conspirator portrays the controversy around Mary Surratt and American ideals of liberty following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Redford directs

Director Robert Redford richly imagines the historic trial. The events following the assassination, carefully researched by screenwriter James Solomon, are impeccably executed by Redford and his team in a thoughtful, understated courtroom drama.

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (Kevin Kline) orders a quick, decisive military tribunal for widow Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), keeper of the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) held secretive meetings.

Reluctant lawyer

Stanton asks Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to represent the accused. Johnson, a Southerner, asks Union war hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) to serve as defense attorney, believing that Aiken has a better chance to secure justice for the accused.

A trial by a jury of one’s peers is guaranteed to civilians of the United States under the Constitution. Surratt was a civilian. In eerie similarity to proponents of The Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act, Stanton reasoned that preserving the union and appeasing an angry public justified the military trial.

Aiken believes Surratt is guilty and does not want to represent her. After being wounded in battle (shown in the film’s stirring opening), Aiken returns to his wife Sarah (Alexis Bledel), who has waited for him for years.

Fair trial jeopardized

Now a member of elite society in Washington, D.C., Aiken seems poised for future success. Johnson issues a challenge to Aiken. If the young lawyer can prove Surratt guilty, he will be released from his duty to defend her.

A fierce debate over legal principle ensues. Aiken becomes earnest not so much to defend Surratt, but to protect the Constitutional right to a fair trial.  If human rights and civil liberties can be suspended for one, then all of society is in peril, he asserts.

Surratt’s son suspected

Aiken argues that Surratt’s son should bear primary responsibility for aiding Booth. John Surratt (Johnny Simmons) invited Booth to their home. Fleeing after the assassination, he remained in hiding during his mother’s trial.

Aiken attempts to flush him out, appealing to his sister Anna (Evan Rachel Wood), to the family’s priest (Russell Cook), and to Surratt herself.

Surratt remains silent and steadfast to protect her son. With bleak endurance, she remained in solitary confinement for over a month before meeting her attorney. As the tribunal begins, she realizes that she will be found guilty. Clutching rosary beads, she begins a hunger strike.

A room for Booth

“I am innocent,” Surratt proclaims. She tells Aiken that she was ignorant of what Booth was plotting. She blames herself for being an overprotective mother who wouldn’t let her son enlist.

Surratt maintains that she rented out rooms only to earn a living for herself and her children.

Wright sacrifices herself in service to the film, preserving Surratt as a mysterious, mirthless figure. The actor expertly underplays emotion, betraying the character’s bitterness towards Northerners in just one scene.

Catholic faith professed

She embodies the contradictions of an imperfect woman firm in her Catholic faith. Wright’s performance is reminiscent of her role as a grim, enduring wife in Unbreakable (2000).

McEvoy steps forward with powerful nuance. Aiken struggles mightily with conscience, principle and the passions of the day.

Aiken and Surratt do not like or trust each other at first. Gradually they build mutual respect even when they disagree over his methods. He grows protective of her, suggesting a tender stewardship of freedom.

Mockery of justice

Strong performances are featured throughout. Colm Meaney presides over a kangaroo court as fiery General David Hunter. Danny Huston plays long-winded prosecutor Joseph Holt leaving nothing to chance.

Norman Reedus is memorable as conspirator Lewis Payne. Louis Weichmann (Jonathan Groff) delivers wavering testimony. Wilkinson plays a moderate to Kline’s open partisan.

“I don’t know what she’s guilty of,” Aiken confesses to his friends.  It’s left to the viewer to decide whether the only female co-conspirator charged was innocent or guilty. Sacrifice is the price to be paid for freedom.

Realistic filming

Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel uses a softly blurred focus and sepia tones, conveying a hardscrabble era. White sunbeams pierce cigar smoke especially during courtroom scenes.

Passions that swirled during and after the Civil War. Occasionally the effect is overdone, particularly in a scene where Aiken is obscured by a dust cloud.

Objective account

Redford’s creation stands in historical counterpoint to more passionate, partisan films about civil liberties and the American conscience such as Fair Game and Green Zone.

You’ll forget you’re watching a movie here. Superb direction, acting and script are enhanced by precise historical detail and an exploration of liberty that remains relevant today.

If you like The Conspirator, you might enjoy: Conviction.

The Conspirator    2010  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 3 min

Cast Overview:  Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Tom Wilkinson, Alexis Bledel, Danny Huston, Justin Long, Colm Meaney, James Badge Dale, Johnny Simmons, Toby Kebbell, Jonathan Groff

Director:  Robert Redford

Genre:  Historic Drama, Period Piece, Drama Based on Real Life