Aaron Sorkin's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 and Steve McQueen's MANGROVE vs Peter Morgan's safely elitist/escapist THE CROWN

Right off the bat I must admit that my attitude toward Britain's Royal Family pretty much mirrors that of moviemaker Terence Davies as described in his rich and moving documentary, Of Time and the City: the sooner our world (and especially Britain) is rid of this nutrient-sapping plague, the better off we'll all be. Goodness knows, we will have much less gossip fodder for the tabloids and soap opera for the TV -- but, hey, them's the breaks. If you're a huge fan of the Netfix series THE CROWN, as so many folk currently are, our Sunday Corner correspondent Lee Liberman has covered the series in depth already, so TrustMovies himself will simply say that when his spouse and he began watching it several years back, we stopped after a few episodes, finding it, as spousie surmised, just more "Royal Family Bullshit" (RFB). 

Coming back to The Crown in the current Season Four (due to all that media hoopla), and again lasting only a few episodes, we were quicky enmired in more RFB, the leading purveyor of which is certainly Peter Morgan, writer/creator of The Crown, as well as of The Queen, who, though he writes wittily and entertainingly, still gives us mostly RFB -- granted with a goodly amount of the Royal Family's pecadilloes in plain view (an alternate titled for the series might have Pecadilloes on Parade!). 

This offers up the chance for audiences to escape into a white, elitist fantasy, while simultaneously feeling superior to the mostly silly twats on view -- really quite an unbeatable combo for mainstream entertainment. The new season is also an opportunity to see some of Britain's and America's finest actors strutting their stuff (quietly and oh, so seriously, of course!), from Olivia Colman (the Queen) to Gillian Anderson (a very fine Margaret Thatcher) and Josh O'Connor (above, as a glum, dumb Prince Charles). 

A very different look at the Britain of the second half of the 20th Century (circa 1970) can be found in MANGROVE, one of the five new films from writer/director Steve McQueen that are part of Amazon Prime Video's new Small Axe series. Mangrove is a hard film to watch because it deals openly and honestly with British racism, especially by the police, during this time. It mirrors our own racism here in the USA, and though it is not overly violent, the entitled, racist -- both casually and nastily --  attitude of  the white, upper-class establishment will be difficult to watch for those of us who grew up in that time either in Britain or here in the USA and tacitly allowed all this to go on. And on. Particularly at this current time, as the Black Lives Matter movement grows and more and more about the racism of then and now comes to light.

Mr. McQueen is a tad heavy on repetition and on some of his messaging about the need to organize and join together to defeat the white elite, but mostly he draws such wonderful performances from his fine cast (that includes Letitia Wright, above, and Shaun Parkes, below) and, along with his co-writer Alastair Siddons, gives us a splendid court trial (of The Mangrove Nine), during which he effectively puts us in a position that comes close to being a member of the jury on this case that his film finally works on every level.

Folk who, when they hear the words Notting Hill, immediately think of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, may instead now find themselves remembering instead this little-but-major movie that reminds us of what has been accomplished and how much yet remains to be done.

The tale told in Aaron Sorkin's newest, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (streaming on Netflix), is much more complex than that of Mangrove, and though both films use a lot of exposition, Mr. Sorkin, not simply clever but also smart, manages to entertain us royally, as well as educate us about a genuinely fascinating trial that captured the world's attention back in 1969. Sorkin's star-studded cast includes everyone from British actors such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance to Frank Langella (who makes a terrific Judge Hoffman) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (below), who aces the role of this film's most complex character, a highly traditional and conservative prosecutor who also possesses scruples and morals.

Sorkin's movie is one of this year's best, and while everything about it resonates, for TrustMovies, the most surprising moments came as I watched the film's black defendant Bobby Seale, along with Fred Hampton, and realized how differently I view these men now than I had at the time of the trial -- when Black Panthers seemed to me a frightening bunch and what they were telling us was too overstated to be believed. Watching this really terrific movie in the context of what's going on today made me realize even more strongly how naive I was at that time. 

So go to The Crown for escape if you must, but see Mangrove and The Trial of the Chicago 7 to get reacquainted with British and American history and "justice for all." 

December Sunday Corner With Lee Liberman: THE CROWN, SEASON 3 -- 1964-1977

There was a young lady from Dallas 

Who used a dynamite stick as a phallus. 

They found her vagina in North Carolina 

and her asshole in Buckingham Palace. 

Imagined not real, the limerick, above, that the screenwriter put in the mouth of Princess Margaret at a White House party in 1965 did the trick: At a lavish dinner party hosted by the Johnson’s for the Snowdon’s, Margaret wooed our president in vernacular they both enjoyed, getting Lyndon to agree to the British government’s plea for a U.S. bailout during an urgent financial crisis. Johnson had been refusing PM Harold Wilson’s calls (the Brit’s weren’t backing his war in Vietnam). But following Margaret and Tony’s visit, the ‘special relationship’ went from cool back to sure-footed. Her thrilling success didn’t widen Margaret’s sphere of influence at home as she was regarded as a bomb-thrower best kept on the down-low. Peter Morgan says he made up what happened at that dinner, but it was so like the principals, one can only wish it did, and pity poor Margaret — the little ‘vice queen’ with an applause deficit.

Morgan’s marvelous Netflix series continues with vignettes that are smaller than the drama of the world war era but absorbing. Here is Britain during the middle years of the Queen (now played by Olivia Colman of The Favourite), the young adulthood of Prince Charles and Princess Anne and the Snowdon scandals. One feels a tad sorry for the Windsors— the ruthless scrutiny and humiliations visited on this ordinary family living under glass.

The royal porn may pay for itself despite the schadenfreude and outright rejection it brings on itself, fed by the soap-opera tales of their private lives. The Windsors function with great success as a soft-touch but powerful PR firm — the outcome of the Crown’s search for meaning as it evolved from ruling monarchy to figurehead. Many royals work full time dutifully promoting civic and social causes. The self-imposed rules they live by assure that duty and kindness are quite, if not perfectly, constant; the Crown ‘firm’ functions as parent archetype, committed to useful work and maintenance of the public image. (Prince Andrew, having embarrassed himself in an unapologetic interview about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, has just been cut from the firm’s public face upon the intervention of Prince Charles, it is reported, asserting himself as monarch-to-be.) Maybe the US could profit from more do-good, apolitical authority.

The salacious chapters have some nuggets. We learn new about the origins of Charles (Josh O’Connor, Only You) and Camilla (Emerald Fennell, below). Camilla’s relationship with Andrew Parker-Bowles (Andrew Buchan) was more passionate than imagined in which they used others to make each other jealous, involving Charles and an acerbic Princess Anne (well-acted by Erin Doherty) who joined the quadrangle “for a bit of fun”. Lord Mountbatten and the Queen mother then broke up the party, instigating Camilla’s marriage to Parker-Bowles while Charles was on Naval duty. (No wonder he would later defiantly flout his marriage to Diana.) Much more domestic nastiness appears in the chapter about the affairs of Tony Snowdon (he who winsomely charmed the Queen to secure her favor) and Princess Margaret precipitating the deterioration of their marriage — splashy tabloid fodder then, soap-opera now.

It’s not all soap. A KGB spy is discovered living in the Palace and there are labor troubles. Prince Philip, splendidly acted by Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Outlander; click here to read a fine interview with the actor), has a mid-life crisis coinciding with the US moon landing and visit of the astronauts to the palace. The Prince, a pilot himself, unhappily sidelined from adventure, waxes in awe of the young astronauts until he meets them, drippy with colds, having nothing of awe to report beyond the lists they had to tick off as they worked through their mission. Philip doesn’t get that ‘meaning’ is all in the doing — the action of climbing the mountain not getting to the top. Menzies (below, l; Prince Philip, r) conveys Philip’s emotions with such self-restraint, he has made himself the stealth star of this ensemble.

A chapter is devoted to the passing of David, Duke of Windsor (Derek Jacobi) living in exile in France and shunned with his notorious wife Wallis (Geraldine Chaplin), for whom he abdicated the throne. Again, Morgan ignores the elephant in the room — the pair’s unholy infatuation with the Nazi’s that led to their non-grata status, making government quietly grateful that divorced American Wallis kept David from the throne. Perhaps a different screenwriter at a different time will dramatize that juicy story.

Crown - 3’s most memorable episode may be the mining incident at Aberfan in 1966, a tiny Welch town that suffered a tragic coal-debris slide. After days of rain, a tip (little hill) of coal debris sank, sliding downward and across the street, burying the town elementary school. It killed 144 people, most of them kids. PM Harold Wilson, Prince Phillip, and camera-slung Tony Snowdon went to the scene at once but their description of the horror and the PM’s urgings could not convince the Queen to go — it fell to rogue Labour party members to induce her late visit. Labour threatened to blame the Queen and prior Tory governments who had ignored reported dangers at the mine site. Several lines of copy on the screen report that the Queen’s failure to go at once to Aberfan remains a matter of deep regret to Elizabeth, and that she has visited the town often in intervening years.

Another chapter shows us the character of the monarch-in-waiting — that is the story of Charles’s Welsh language and history instruction prior to his investiture as the Prince of Wales. The Welsh, especially his local university tutor, anticipate the chore with derision, only for Charles to win them over with sincere, earnest effort. Charles is well-conveyed by O’Connor, who conjures him quite completely (O'Connor below r, Prince Charles l)

At end, Crown 3 was as entertaining as earlier series, supporting Morgan’s stated goal to use the monarchy as a canvas for this decade or so of the latter 20th century, all the while laying out a good gossip. Full cast replacement helps his case, as you focus less on individuals and more on the unfolding stories of the era.

At left, screenwriter, Peter Morgan and his partner, Gillian Anderson, who will appear in the next edition of The Crown as Margaret Thatcher.

The above post was written by 

our monthly correspondent, Lee Liberman