I saw The Conspirator on Tuesday. This is the film about the trial of Mary Surratt for the assassination of President Lincoln. Directed by Robert Redford, the film is a bit didactic, so I am not sure how much the story was skewed to make Redford's case on the injustice of military tribunals. I think it is mostly fact based though. I was bothered by a scene near the end where Secretary of War Stanton and the military prosecutor have a discussion about influencing the military jury to change their decision from life in prison to hanging. The film then proceeds to the delivery of the verdict. There seemed to me to be a big gap here concerning whether Stanton did intervene with the jury, and I am no sure why that was left out. The implication of the film is that he did, but that is never represented in the film.
That being said, the film is worth seeing, if for no other reason than Robin Wright's performance as Mary Surratt. The entire cast, including James McAvoy, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson, Evan Rachel Wood, all give great performances.
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