Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.
There's a stiffness that keeps the story from packing a punch. Still, it's handsomely mounted, and at its best moments has the patina of a Masterpiece Theater production.
– Claudia Puig,
USA Today,
17 Apr 2011
fresh:
A bracing courtroom drama whose every scene seems wreathed in mist, dust motes and cigar smoke, the better to suggest a nation befogged by grief.
– John Anderson,
Newsday,
22 Apr 2011
rotten:
Leaves us feeling as empty as a raided tomb.
– Peter Howell,
Toronto Star,
28 Apr 2011
rotten:
Once the ideological cat is out of the bag, the drama is degraded to the level of a historical pageant.
– Liam Lacey,
Globe and Mail,
29 Apr 2011
fresh:
Atmospheric, illuminating and affecting, The Conspirator captivates like an untold story -- one that you can't believe you've never heard until now, and won't soon forget.