The Conspirator

You can feel the times in Redfords’ ‘Conspirator’

ROBIN WRIGHT and Peter Goldmark in "The Conspirator.

There is a hugely realistic aura about the film “The Conspirator.”
You may have missed it during its brief theatrical run.
That’s OK. With its Masterpiece Theater, drawing-room style and washed-out color, the big screen isn’t a real necessity in this Robert Redford-directed historical film.
The movie opens with a slap-dash chronology of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. Quickly seven men and a woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the president, vice president, secretary of state and others in one attack.
Among those arrested is Mary Surratt, whose boarding house was the site where conspirators met. Among them were Lincoln killer John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt, Mary’s son.
We watch as the barn Booth is trapped in is set afire and how a soldier shoots him to death through a crack in the barn.
But John Surratt is on the run. The country is incensed about the death of Lincoln and obsessed with conspiracies. The newspapers are full of stories of possible death squads and poisoning of water supplies.
Mary Surratt, by default, is arrested for conspiracy in Lincoln’s death and placed on trial by a military court.
She is not permitted to see evidence against her. She cannot speak in her own defense.
Her attorney is novice Frederick Aiken, 28, (played by James McAvoy), who has never brought a case to court before.
Robin Wright plays Mrs. Surratt, who is trying to protect her son while saving her life.
Aiken is initially like the rest of the nation, more interested in punishing the conspirators than making certain the trial is fair and impartial. After meeting with Mrs. Surratt and he witnesses how the deck is stacked against her, he slowly comes around to her side.
Everyone else is quick to want the whole episode over with and anyone remotely connected punished. Aiken is questioned by his girlfriend, played by Alexis Bledel. She drops him because she can’t understand why Aiken, a Civil War hero, would spend so much time defending Surratt.
Evan Rachel Wood does a nice job playing Anna Surratt, Mary’s daughter. She believes in her mother but is disgusted with the rest of the world.
The scenes are well laid out. You get a sense of the dusty, dirty environment that was 1865. You can feel the era.
But it needs an injection of humanity. Who exactly are these people? Why do they act the way they do?
This is more a history regurgitation than a real movie.
It isn’t bad. Redford is able to build suspense at beginning, chronicling the attacks on Lincoln and the others.
Ditto for the end, as we learn what happens to Mary Surratt in a sad twist of fate.
The movie really gives you a sense of the times, how frightened people are, how civil rights were thrown out the window.
Redford could have bumped up the energy level a bit more. If you like PBS, you will like this fine.

THE CONSPIRATOR Directed by Robert Redford Written by James Solomon Runtime: 122 minutes Rated PG-13 for violent content 2 1/2 stars out of 4