电影"密谋者"说的是军事法庭对 Mary Surratt 的审判。
南北战争结束后不久，勉强存活下来的联盟在慢慢找回多年战争中遗失的那份安详的思绪时，华盛顿特区一家剧院中的一声枪响，把国家重新抛入危机。一个名叫 John Wilkes Booth 的南方人, 刚刚刺杀了亚布拉罕.林肯总统。
被追捕的John Wikes Booth 不久就困于一个燃烧的马棚中，拒绝向政府官员投降而身亡。同时，另外八个人也因与John Wilkes Booth密谋刺杀总统/副总统/国务卿而遭逮捕／起诉，这其中有一个妇女，名叫 Mary Surratt.
Fredreick Aiken, 战争中是一名忠诚的联盟军官，战后是一名年轻的律师，极不情愿地同意在军事法庭上为Mary Surratt 女士辩护。因她被指控的罪行，Aiken 开始时一点儿都不在意她的命运。但随着审判的继续，他逐渐发现，在军事法庭上军人法官的帮助下，政府将伪造的证据／证人强加在 Surratt女士头上，以达到复仇而非伸张正义的目的。在这个认知下，Aiken 开始变得非常投入, 几乎不计成本地为Surratt 女士辩护, 但最终没有成功。无论有罪或无辜，政府决定用Surratt 女士的生命来解决一个国家危机. 大众需要复仇!
由 Robert Redford 导演的"密谋者", 通过这一伟大国家的一段黑暗历史片段，提醒人们任何政治系统，无论他们多么理所当然地视为完善／强大，在艰难的时期，当人们在自身无法克服的缺陷中随波逐流时，(系统)也会失败。只有牢记这一点，这个国家才更可能演变成一个"更加完美的国家"。
整部电影的 Youtube 链接 https://youtu.be/6z5h3-_hJks?si=jkwevLHFk-lLmp0h
The movie "The Conspirator" is about the trial of Mary Surratt through a millitary tribunal.
Right after the civil war has finally come to an end, as the barely-survived Union is slowly rediscovering the peace of mind it has lost for many a year during the war, a gunshot in a theatre in Washington DC throws the nation right back into a crisis. A man from the South, named John Wilkes Booth, has just assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
While the hunted John Wilkes Booth is soon killed when being trapped in a buring barn and refusing to surrender to the government agents, eight other people are arrested and charged with consparing to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State, among whom is a woman named Mary Surratt.
Frederick Aiken, a faithful union officier during the war and a young lawyer afterwards, relctantly agrees to defend Mary Surratt before the miliary tribunal. Considering the charge agianst Ms. Surratt, Mr. Aiken at the beginning cares no less of her fate. But as the trial goes on, he has gradually come to the realization that the government, with the help of the military judges at the tribunal, faking its evidence and witness upon Ms. Surratt, is not for justice but for revenge. With this new understanding, Mr. Frederick Aiken becomes most devoted to defending his client's innocence she is, by the Constitution, entitled to being deemed until proven guilty, at almost all cost. Yet the pulic needs revenge, and the givernment is determined to use Ms Surratt's life to solve a national crisis, regardless of her innocence or otherwise. Ms. Mary Surratt has been considered gulity long before the tribunal even gets strated.
"The Conspirator", directed by Robert Redford, though a dark piece of this great nation's history, reminds people that any system, however sound and strong to let them take for granted, may fail them when the time is hard, as they themselves are being carried away by their own flaws they cannot overcome. Only with this in mind will this nation have a better chance to truly evolve into "a more perfect nation".
