‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’: Did Judge Julius and Abbie really fight over surname ‘Hoffman’ in the court?
Spoilers for ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
“What's in a name?” the great William Shakespeare once said. His powerful words have been both idealized and mocked long after he was gone — and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ presents another such ironical satire. Lifting the curtains off of what could be one of the most notorious trials in history, Aaron Sorkin's masterpiece tells a foregone tale and reflects on the similarity of the two eras. In his own words, “The script didn’t change to mirror the times, the times changed to mirror the script.”
In 1968, a peaceful protest at the Democratic National Convention turned into a violent clash with police and the National Guard and it dragged organizers of the protest — including Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) — to court. Led by Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), the courtroom drama is filled with suspense and absurdity.
In one scene, when the judge is introduced to the founder of counter-culture Youth International Party (Yippie) Abbie Hoffman, he is taken aback. The sound of the same surname rings in his ears and he just can't seem to come to terms with it. Steering clear of any confusion, he makes it clear: “There are two Hoffmans in this courtroom. The defendant Abbie Hoffman, and myself, Judge Julius Hoffman. I didn't want there to be any confusion on the matter.”
With a look of disbelief, Abbie turns to him and retorts, “Man, I don't think they're gonna mix us up.” As the spectators break into laughter, the judge gives him a stern warning to address the court as “Judge or Your Honor.” Cutting the prosecutors mid-sentence, Judge Julius drags it on and says, “And the records should reflect that defendant Hoffman and I are not related.” Mocking the fiasco, Abbie cries, “Father, no!” and drives the judge mad with rage.
Interestingly, that snippet from the film wasn't fictionalized. It really happened. Back in court as the trial began on September 24, 1969, when the names of defendants were mentioned, Judge Hoffman made a comment about defendant Abbie at an early part of the trial. “He is not my son,” Judge Julius remarked. In an immediate reply, Abbie called out, “Dad, dad, have you forsaken me?!”
And if that was not enough, the filmmaker pokes fun at the farce yet again in the second half of the film. When Abbie is called to the witness stand, Judge Julius asks him his full name for the record and he exclaims, “It's Abbie.” When the judge presses him on stating his last name, Abbie says, “My grandfather's name was Shaboysnakoff, but he was a Russian Jew protesting anti-Semitism, so he was assigned a name that would sound like yours.” Brimming with brilliant conversations, the two-hour 10-minute long movie hits straight in the chest and leaves a lump in the throat. And it only gets more serious when you realize it was all true.
‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ will start streaming on Netflix this October 16, 2020.