--- title: The Conspirator Revisits a Pivotal Chapter of American Law and War description: The news put Americans in a state of shock; they knew that, after that unprecedented day, they would never be the same. With this dastardly... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6911091/the-conspirator-revisits-a-pivotal-chapter-of-american-law-and-war/ author: Richard Corliss article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2010-09-17T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-23T16:39:13.045Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Conspirator Revisits a Pivotal Chapter of American Law and War og:description: The news put Americans in a state of shock; they knew that, after that unprecedented day, they would never be the same. With this dastardly... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6911091/the-conspirator-revisits-a-pivotal-chapter-of-american-law-and-war/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt706529798dca8e2d/698a4b8147ca3878913bc5ea/360_the_conspirator_0911.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 360 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: 360_the_conspirator_0911.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Conspirator Revisits a Pivotal Chapter of American Law and War twitter:description: The news put Americans in a state of shock; they knew that, after that unprecedented day, they would never be the same. With this dastardly... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt706529798dca8e2d/698a4b8147ca3878913bc5ea/360_the_conspirator_0911.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # The Conspirator Revisits a Pivotal Chapter of American Law and War (17 Sep 2010) > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Ally. Ally is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: July 2026. ## Ally: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Ally is a digital financial services company offering online-only banking, including checking and savings accounts, through Ally.com and its mobile apps. Launched in 2009 as an original disruptor in financial services, Ally was built to challenge outdated banking norms with a simpler, more convenient way to bank. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Richard Corliss](https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/) Sep 17, 2010 4:00 AM UTC  Robin Wright in The Conspirator Robin Wright in The Conspirator Everett Collection by [Richard Corliss](https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/) Sep 17, 2010 4:00 AM UTC The news put Americans in a state of shock; they knew that, after that unprecedented day, they would never be the same. With this dastardly attack, and after the greatest loss of civilian lives the U.S. had ever known, the federal government abridged the liberties of those it suspected of giving aid and comfort to the nation’s enemies. It tried civilians in military courts, deprived them of due process, suspended the right of habeus corpus. The few lawyers to speak up in defense of the accused were overruled or drowned out by high government officials who spun fantasies into imminent threats, predicting anarchy if the suspects were not railroaded to conviction. And when it couldn’t find the real perpetrators of the attack, the government went after people who might slake the country’s thirst for righteous revenge. The news, of course, was of Abraham Lincoln’s bloody death, a few days after the Civil War ended. The vindictive government officials included Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The civilian on trial in a military court was Mary Surratt, whose son John was part of the plot that killed Lincoln. Despite a spirited defense by a young war hero, Frederick Aiken, she was convicted of treason by a Commission that recommended she be sentenced to life in prison. President Johnson overruled that sentence — as well as the writ of habeus corpus Aiken had secured — and on July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt was hanged. She was the first woman to be executed by the U.S. government. (See photos of Abraham Lincoln.) [(See pictures of movie costumes.)](https://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1699703%5F1511794,00.html) The most troubling and satisfying aspect of _The Conspirator_, director Robert Redford’s account of the Surratt case, is the comparison it draws between the actions taken by the Andrew Johnson administration immediately after the event of Apr. 14, 1865 — the first assassination of a U.S. President — and the Bush Administration’s actions in the months and years after the events of Sept. 11, 2001\. In this movie (produced by online-trading billionaire Joe Ricketts’ American Film Company), Stanton is the stand-in for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld; he proposes lurid theories of revolution and, when challenged, replies, “Who’s to say these things couldn’t happen?” In a direct parallel to the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq as a crowd-pleasing alternative to the fruitless search for Osama bin Laden, one Surratt sympathizer says that Stanton & Co. are trying Mary “because they can’t find John.” This may sound like catnip to Bush-whackers, and an outrage or a yawn to everybody else. But this retelling of a crucial, poorly-remembered chapter of American law and war has enough atmosphere, stalwart acting and suspense to appeal to the mass of moviegoers, even those indifferent to the primacy of justice over vengeance. In Redford’s starchy but provocative version, Union war hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) is persuaded by Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to defend Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) at her trial. Screenwriters James D. Solomon and Gregory Bernstein have added an Aiken girlfriend (Alexis Bledel) and a pal (Justin Long) for home cooking, but the movie story is essentially the real one. Aiken presses his case against prosecuting attorney Joseph Holt (Danny Huston), quizzes John Surratt associate Louis Weichmann (_Glee’s_ Jonathan Groff) and searches for helpful evidence in Mary’s boarding house, where her daughter Anna (Evan Rachel Wood) still lives. [(See the 100 best movies of all time.)](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1953094,00.html) Thirty years after his directorial debut with the Oscar-winning _Ordinary People_, Redford comes to this period piece with a visual style that is both stately and obvious. In Mary’s prison cell, shafts of blinding light form the window giving her the third degree. Redford swathes the proceedings in artfully desaturated color and soft-focus back-lighting — just enough to let viewers know they’re in the 19th century, not enough to distract them from the story. He might have chosen his leading player more wisely: McAvoy, the young Scottish actor who’s been impressive as a romantic proletarian (_Atonement_), a roguish journalist (the BBC series _State of Play_) and a wimp turned action hero (_Wanted_), plays Aiken as a bit too callow and tentative. The rest of the cast does fine by their roles. Kline and Huston provide different sides of the same government coin: one a zealot for finding villains and scapegoats, and never mind which is which; the other as a dispassionate advocate for his client, and who at the end quotes Cicero’s maxim that “in times of war, the law falls silent.” The shining star is Wright, who brings drama and beauty to every role just by staring into the camera. She gets to offer more here: the sullen, fiery dignity of a woman who is as sure of her allegiance to the defeated Confederacy (she calls Lincoln “_your_ President”) as she is of her innocence — and her fate at the grasping hands of Stanton and his government gang. [(See the best movies of the decade.)](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1949837%5F1949237,00.html) Wright’s performance is the key to a movie that pulses with the sick thrill of historical discovery. _The Conspirator_ reminds us that. when we surrendered so many of our Constitutional rights and judgments after 9/11, it wasn’t the first time. How can we be sure it will be the last? [See TIME’s 140 Best Twitter Feeds.](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2058946,00.html) [Vote for the world’s most influential people for the 2011 TIME 100.](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2058044%5F2060338%5F2060034,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911091/the-conspirator-revisits-a-pivotal-chapter-of-american-law-and-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911091/the-conspirator-revisits-a-pivotal-chapter-of-american-law-and-war/"},"headline":"The Conspirator Revisits a Pivotal Chapter of American Law and War (17 Sep 2010)","datePublished":"2010-09-17T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-23T16:39:13.045Z","description":"The news put Americans in a state of shock; they knew that, after that unprecedented day, they would never be the same. 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