Il silenzio della legge: potere, diritto e giustizia in The Conspirator di Robert Redford (2010)

THE LAW FALLS SILENT. POWER, LAW AND JUSTICE IN ROBERT REDFORD’S THE CONSPIRATOR (2010). Redford’s movie The Conspirator is inspired by the trial against those responsible for Lincoln’s assassination (1865), including Mary Surratt who was the first woman to be sentenced to death in the USA. Some remarkable legal-philosophical issues involved by the film are discussed here. In Sect. 1 is summarized the historical event. In Sect. 2 is justified the interest in the film (i.e. the relationship between political power and justice in the “states of emergency”). In Sect. 3 are specified the features of the intertwining between Mary’s human story and the current political conditions. In Sect. 4 is analyzed the social, political and judicial context of the trial. In Sect. 5 is mentioned the role of the XIV Amendment in the centralization process of US federal politics. In Sect. 6 are sketched some issues highlighted by the film: namely the primacy of strength, utility, abstractness, politics, justice.