“The Conspirator” is an intriguing dramatization of an event in 1865 surrounding President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell). Apprehended is Mary Surratt (a moving Robin Wright) whose runaway son John (Johnny Simmons) is supposedly Booth’s accomplice. At Senator Reverdy Johnson’s (Tom Wilkinson) behest, his protégé, attorney Frederick Aiken (an attention-holding James McAvoy), defends her, although is averse to have her for a client. A former decorated Union soldier, Aiken is disinclined to believe she is innocent. As time passes, he wavers in indecisiveness upon information she might be a scapegoat.
Actor-filmmaker Robert Redford directs a slow-moving and talky, character-driven period drama accentuated by outstanding courtroom proceedings. Offering secondary though integral support with interesting interpretations are Kevin Kline as Lincoln’s Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long, Danny Huston, and Alexis Bledel. If not for this stellar cast, the film would be a listless political allegory.
Image Source: Daemons Movies
