Redford Directs a ‘Straight-Up Telling’ of Lincoln’s Assassination

• “The Conspirator,” Directed by Robert Redford, American Film Company, 123 minutes, released April 15.

In recent years, there have been plenty of movies for history buffs. “Saving Private Ryan” gave viewers the World II experience (and then some); “Glory” gave them the Civil War experience; “Eight Men Out” gave them early 20th-century baseball, long before players became millionaires.

But can movies with a historical theme keep pace in the age of remakes and multiple sequels? One could argue no, given that “Scream 4” grossed $18.6 million during its first week of release.

Evidently, Joe Ricketts doesn’t think so. The former CEO of TD Ameritrade and new owner of the Chicago Cubs has ventured into the movie business with the express purpose of producing historically themed movies.

His first project, Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator,” opened April 15, 146 years to the day after Abraham Lincoln died from an assassin’s bullet. Lincoln’s assassination is central to the movie’s plot.

The story of Lincoln’s assassination has become the stuff of legend. A famous actor, John Wilkes Booth, sneaks into the presidential box at Ford’s Theater and puts a bullet in the back of Lincoln’s head. Booth then jumps from the box and yells “Sic simper tyrannis” (“thus always to tyrants”) before fleeing on horseback to the woods of southern Maryland.

Booth eventually was shot by Union soldiers on a farm in northern Virginia, and his conspirators were tried and hanged. Two famous photographs graphically display the conspirators hanging from the gallows, and right away one notices by her black dress that one of them was a woman.

That woman was Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), the owner of a Washington boarding house where Booth and his conspirators — including Surratt’s son John — often met. A trial by military tribunal determined that Mary Surratt — at the least — had sufficient knowledge of the plot to assassinate Lincoln. Thus, she was a “conspirator.”

While “The Conspirator” effectively tells Surratt’s story, it also works well on a larger level. First, it’s a straight-up telling of the Lincoln assassination, from the time he was shot April 14 until Surratt was hanged July
7. The first 30 minutes are enthralling, and history buffs everywhere will no doubt relish seeing such a pivotal event played out in live action.

Redford captures the feel of the era. He depicts the panic gripping the nation as Americans realize not only that the president has been assassinated, but also that the plot extended to Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.

Redford also takes viewers to mid-19th-century Washington, which Charles Dickens referred to as “a city of magnificent distances.” Wide camera shots show an abundance of open space, complete with grazing livestock. It’s hard to imagine when one visits D.C. today.

In times of crisis, government often overreacts. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered only days earlier; there was reason to believe rebel forces either had not heard of the surrender or simply decided to keep on fighting.

Then there was the larger issue at hand — the continued preservation of the Union in the aftermath of a bloody four-year struggle. When Surratt’s lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) expresses concern over Surratt’s civil rights, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline) simply replies that if the Union weren’t preserved, then no one’s rights mattered.

Much like today’s debate over trials for terrorists, considerable questions arose about Surratt’s guilt or innocence and the circumstances of her trial. By using a military tribunal rather than a civilian court, public officials believed they could get the conspiracy behind them quicker.

Aiken was an inexperienced lawyer, fresh off the battlefield, handed the case by Maryland Sen. Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson.)

Aiken at first is frustrated — by both the apparent prejudice of the prosecution and Surratt’s apparent disinterest in her own defense. Aiken even believed Surratt was guilty and asked to be taken off the case, a request Reverdy Johnson refused.

But as Aiken peels back the layers of the case, he questions his earlier assumption of Surratt’s guilt. Yes, she confessed knowledge of the original plot to kidnap Lincoln and hold him for ransom in exchange for Confederate prisoners of war. And saloon keeper John Lloyd (Stephen Root) testified that Surratt had instructed him to hide the guns, crucial evidence that she was aware of the plot.

Even so, Aiken was convinced that there was reasonable doubt of Surratt’s guilt and worked hard to obtain a writ of habeas corpus to have her tried before a civilian jury. The military jury debated the propriety of executing a woman, but Stanton — as the movie portrays it — was instrumental in influencing their decision to make an example of Surratt.

A gut-wrenching scene portrays Aiken telling Surratt and her daughter Anna (Evan Rachel Wood) that she would get a new trial, only to have a Union officer enter the cell and read the death sentence, claiming that President Johnson had suspended habeas corpus.

Redford is a well-known Hollywood liberal, and some have speculated that “The Conspirator” is a jab at modern-day terrorist detainee policies. It’s possible, although the film makes it clear that Surratt’s treatment and the desire for swift and brutal justice were in the name of vengeance for a president revered by modern-day liberals. With that in mind, most would conclude that Redford is focusing on a universal theme — the rights of the accused — rather than targeting contemporary policy.

Word has it that Ricketts’ next movie project will focus on Paul Revere’s ride. After seeing “The Conspirator,” history buffs should hope for many more such projects.