Netflix Making The Trial of the Chicago 7 Free on YouTube for Limited Time

February 18, 2021

To celebrate the forthcoming anniversary of the verdict for the titular court case, Netflix has announced that Aaron Sorkin’s five-time Golden Globe nominated The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be hitting Netflix’s YouTube channel free for 48 hours.

On February 18, 1970 the verdict in The Trial Of The Chicago 7 was announced — to mark the anniversary, starting at midnight tonight, the film will be available for free for 48 hours on Netflix’s YouTube pic.twitter.com/nu7PxdLEjZ

— Netflix (@netflix) February 18, 2021

Based on a true story, The Trial of the Chicago 7 follows protesters who disrupted the 1968 Democrat party convention with an anti-Vietnam war “carnival” that turned nasty. Demonstrators threw bricks, police responded with tear gas and the center of Chicago was engulfed in flames. Curfews only escalated the violence.

After the clashes, independent investigators blamed eight police officers and eight protesters including Abbie Hoffman, who had already disrupted the New York Stock Exchange with showers of fake money. The police were not charged but the protesters were accused of inciting a riot. One was jailed for contempt, leaving the seven to fight the charges.

Sorkin’s second directorial effort features Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald) as Tom Hayden, Oscar-nominee Sacha Baron Cohen (Who is America?) as Abbie Hoffman, Jeremy Strong (Succession) as as Jerry Rubin, Golden Globe-nominee Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Snowden) as Richard Schultz, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) as Bobby Seale, Alex Sharp (The Hustle) as Rennie Davis and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Luce, Waves) as Fred Hamptom. It will also star Michael Keaton, William Hurt, Thomas Middleditch, John Carroll Lynch, Daniel Flaherty, Noah Robbins, Mark Rylance, J.C. MacKenzie and Max Adler, who also serves as an executive producer.

The film will also be executive produced by Matt Jackson. Marc Butan and Anthony Katagas. The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be produced by Oscar nominee Marc Platt (Bridge of Spies, La La Land), Stuart Besser, and Tyler Thompson.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is currently available to stream on Netflix and will hit the platform’s YouTube channel on midnight tonight!