THE CONSPIRATOR
4 out of 5 stars

“one bullet may have killed our president, but not one man...”
– the prosecutor

this was the debut film from the american film company (check out their website @: http://www.theamericanfilmcompany.com/), and WOW! i was thoroughly impressed with the outcome. a lot of big stars were attached to this project, and i think it may have had something to do with the fact that robert redford was at the helm as director. VERY well done, and there’s a lot of correlations between 9/11 and terrorist trials and the lincoln assassination... ;)

the year is 1865, and the union is celebrating their victory over the south in washington d.c. 3 union soldiers including civil war hero and attorney by trade, frederick aiken (james mcavoy), attend a party with the secretary of war (kevin kline) and other cabinet members. they’re told that president lincoln has decided to go to the theater with the first lady, so he will not be attending the party... well, as many of us know, john wilkes booth shoots the president, and he dies across the street from the theater. pretty soon, the u.s. government uncovers a conspiracy to kill the president, the vice president andrew johnson, and the secretary of state as well as arrest all involved parties including a woman named mary surratt (robin wright sans makeup). mary claims she is innocent and knew nothing of the assassination, and pleads to her senator, reverdy johnson (tom wilkinson) for proper representation. MD sen. johnson asks frederick aiken to do just that, and he reluctantly takes on the case because he thinks she’s guilty... however, frederick does his best to defend mary, but it’s kind of hard to prove someone’s innocence when the jury is comprised of ALL union generals + a union JAG prosecutor. pretty soon, it’s obvious that mary’s trial is prejudiced from the very get-go and that mary is just bait to get john surratt, her son and booth’s right hand man, to turn himself in... ;)

the american film company states that they try and make accurate films re: our country’s history, and they prove just that with this movie. the costumes, the scenery, the dialogue, the characters are all accurate representations of what might have happened back then. the acting is superb esp. mcavoy, whose character’s belief in the u.s. justice system is questioned after how the government handles mary’s case. but it’s interesting to see how we, as a country, want “somebody” to take responsibility after a devastating event such as an assassination of a president or even an attack on U.S. soil. someone’s head should roll for crimes committed, but is retaliation really the answer? what about disregarding someone’s civil liberties? i guess one could argue that if you’re involved in a plot to kill the president, you probably don’t have any... but then again, is this what president lincoln would have wanted? interesting movie that provokes some political thinking... and, you begin to see that whether it’s 1865 or 1965 or 2005, some things never change... ;)