Riots, rights, and revolution while the world is watching. Netflix has recently released the trailer to academy award winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago Seven. This is the long-time screenwriter’s sophomore outing behind the camera. 

Based on a true story, the film follows a group of seven, actually eight but one member chose to be tried separately, during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois and their eventual trial in 1969. 

Entrenched in the heart of the Civil Rights era the teaser builds intensity chanting “The whole world is watching” nearly all the way through. Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) shows the desperation of the political activists by stating “Martin [Luther King Jr.]’s dead, Bobby [Kennedy]’s dead, and Jesus [Christ] is dead.They tried it peacefully. We gonna try something else.” 

A motif in American history certainly seems to be ideals of revolution, but moreover structural change. Quick flashes of protests and police lines seem quite poignant to the current situation across the United States. Sorkin, who famously felt useless after the terrorist attacks in 2001, seems focused to tell a true and inspiring story of a revolution during the Civil Rights era. 

Starring Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat), Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Yahya Abdul-Mateen(Watchmen), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), and many more award winning actors, along with writing by Sorkin, this film seems destined for awards season. 

Alongside the other current health issues across the world, Netflix seems keen in releasing their slate of films that, with little competition, are eagerly knocking on the academy’s virtual door. This is certainly a film that the whole world could be watching.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is set to release on Netflix and in select theaters on October 16th, 2020.