The Conspirator. Dir. Robert Redford. Starring Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Alexis Bledel, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood.
Cinema icon Robert Redford returns to his independent filmmaking roots with The Conspirator, the suspenseful, true story of the lone woman charged in the assassination of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, and the 28-year-old Union war hero who must defend her. With America’s most famous assassination as a backdrop, Redford tells a poignant story about loyalty and honor.
Having just returned victorious to Washington D.C. from the closing battles of the Civil War, Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), a Union war hero and idealistic lawyer, is eager to make his name in politics. A bright-eyed nationalist, he is thrilled when he gets an audience with Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline), at a high society party. However, the meeting is cut short when a shot fired in Ford’s Theatre from the gun of John Wilkes Booth changes everything.
With the nation mobilized to hunt down those responsible for the assassination, the authorities arrest Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), mother of John Surratt, suspected of collaborating with Booth. A Confederate sympathizer and devoted mother, Mary refuses to reveal the location of her son. Whipped-up into an emotional fury, the public calls for her blood.

Source: CinemaBlend.com