Why does documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen use Chicago 10 as the title for his collage-like account of the trial of the so-called Chicago Seven? In the name of inclusion: The "10" comprises not just the seven major anti-war dissidents charged with inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, but also their lawyers William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, and Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, who was eventually tried separately.
Despite its title's precision, Chicago 10 focuses more closely on the mood of the times than factual specifics. Morgen cuts between archival footage of the events leading up to the demonstrations outside the convention hall and animated re-creations of the trial with actors reading from the courtroom transcript, including Hank Azaria as pranksterish radical Abbie Hoffman and the late Roy Scheider as cranky, doddering Judge Julius Hoffman (no relation).
Chicago 10 feels like an artifact both about and from the counterculture's height, with the crunchy rock music and Waking Life-style animation at times evoking Ralph Bakshi's X-rated cartoon features. Little exaggerated frills – poet Allen Ginsburg hovering in a lotus position – hardly prove necessary to a trial that at times sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland. At one point Hoffman and alleged co-conspirator Jerry Rubin (Mark Ruffalo) enter the courtroom in judicial robes, and the judge is not amused.
The animated guise of the trial's prosecuting attorney and "Establishment" figurehead (voiced by Nick Nolte) looks suspiciously like a young George W. Bush. Perhaps that's a complete coincidence, or maybe it's Morgen's way of drawing a line between the Vietnam War protests and today's anti-war movement. The film concludes with a harrowing juxtaposition of the 1968 riot and scenes of Seale in court, repeatedly bound, gagged and beaten while demanding his civil rights.
Chicago 10 occasionally blurs specific details, but it captures the era's tumultuous feelings and political agendas. The overall effect resembles Morgen's previous documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture, a self-mythologizing account by Hollywood producer Robert Evans. Morgen's films are less like photographic portraits than mosaics of strong personalities and archetypal episodes. It's like piecing together a plate glass window after history has already thrown a brick through it.
Chicago 10 Four stars. Directed by Brett Morgen. Stars the voices of Hank Azaria, Roy Scheider. Rated R. Opens Fri., March 28. At Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.
