It's been 36 years since Robert Redford escaped a deadly CIA plot in "Three Days of the Condor," 35 since he chased down a White House cabal in "All the President's Men." Now, as director, he's back with a drum-roll of a film about a conspiracy to kill a president and its frenzied aftermath.
"The Conspirator," about the lone woman charged with conspiring to kill President Lincoln and the rookie lawyer assigned to defend her, is the first release of the American Film Company, which is dedicated to producing true stories from the nation's past.
AFC founder Joe Ricketts, who started the online brokerage firm Ameritrade and, with his family, owns the Chicago Cubs, believes that real life is often more compelling than fiction. With its tense courtroom scenes and post-9/11 parallels, "The Conspirator" bears him out.
It's the kind of thing the History Channel does well, but with perfectionist Redford at the helm, "The Conspirator" envelops viewers with a visual sense of the place, times and people involved in a haunting but little-known drama.
Dallas-born Robin Wright brings dazzling gravitas and depth to Mary Surratt, accused of complicity in the murder. She was the mother of John Surratt Jr. (Dallasite Johnny Simmons), the only conspirator who got away, and she ran the H Street boardinghouse (now a Wok and Roll restaurant) where John Wilkes Booth and his confederates schemed to kill Lincoln, the vice president and secretary of state.
Unlike Jenny in "Forrest Gump," the part is no audience-pleaser. As President Andrew Johnson said, Mary Surratt "kept the nest that hatched the egg," but Wright imbues the black-clad widow, who pleaded not guilty, with dignity, strength and fire.
As Union war hero Frederick Aiken, reluctantly defending the woman he presumes guilty, Scottish actor James McAvoy ably navigates an emotional arc. Tentative and dithery at first, he comes to believe that Mary Surratt might be innocent, that she's being used to bait her missing son and that the military tribunal trying her is bent on conviction.
As Maryland Sen. Reverdy Johnson, who taps Aiken to represent Surratt, Tom Wilkinson juices his every scene with palpable humanity and wit. In a role that whispers of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Kevin Kline is Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who wants the conspirators hanged and buried.
Danny Huston is sly perfection as the prosecutor grilling John Surratt's friend Weichmann (Jonathan Groff) and tavern proprietor Lloyd (Stephen Root). Evan Rachel Wood is Mary's daughter, who's smitten with Booth. And as he did in "Alexander," Toby Kebbell plays the assassin.
Except for Aiken's added love interest (Houston native Alexis Bledel) and brother-in-arms (Justin Long), James D. Solomon's screenplay draws from transcripts of the trial and other archival sources. Historians who've seen the film give it high marks for accuracy but cavil that slavery is never mentioned.
Savannah, Ga., which escaped William Sherman's march in the Civil War, stands in for Washington, circa 1865. The film company chose the seacoast city, producer Brian Falk said at an Austin screening, for its well-preserved 19th-century buildings and "fantastic incentives."
An artist before turning actor, Redford and his "Quiz Show" production designer Kalina Ivanov create an atmospheric palette he describes in his blog as suggestive of Rembrandt's use of color and Vermeer's use of light.
Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel paints a world lit by candles, gaslights and torches, and costume designer Louise Frogley makes the cast look like people of the period, not actors wearing rented clothes. Original music is by prolific film composer Mark Isham ("A River Runs Through It").
Although Solomon, story editor on "The Practice," began the script years before 9/11, this case of security and vengeance trumping civil rights, due process and justice echoes down the years. And in a choice bit of symmetry for Redford, lawyer Aiken later became the first city editor of The Washington Post.
"The Conspirator"
Our grade: B+
Genres: Historical Drama, Thriller
Running Time: 121 min
MPAA rating: PG-13
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