‘The Conspirator’ a good snapshot of the era
The Conspirator
(Cert 12, 123 mins, Drama/Thriller)
Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) is hunted down with his co-conspirators including Samuel Arnold (Jeremy Paul Tuttle), George Atzerodt (John Michael Weatherly), David Herold (Marcus Hester) and Lewis Payne (Norman Reedus).
Police also arrest Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), who owns the boarding house where the men concocted their heinous plan.
Her son John (Johnny Simmons), one of the alleged plotters, remains at large.
Idealistic lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), a protege of southern senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), is hired to defend Surratt against the bombast of prosecutor Joseph Holt (Danny Huston) before a military tribunal headed by General David Hunter (Colm Meaney).
The Conspirator is a fascinating true story of a shameful episode in America’s legal history when the Constitution was torn to shreds in the name of so-called national unity. McAvoy puts fire into his defender’s belly and Wright curries sympathy for her mother, who is willing to sacrifice herself for her child.
Strong supporting turns from Huston, Wilkinson and Kline stoke the flames but Robert Redford’s film never quite catches fire.
The veteran film-maker captures the era with aplomb, desaturating the screen of colour to mimic Autochrome, a film developing process invented in the early 1900s by the Lumiere brothers.
His history lesson certainly looks the part – pity the delivery is so dry.
The inevitability of the final verdict, laid down in the history books, dissipates some of the suspense.
Rating: 3/5.
