Adding to another reviewer's comments about key elements being left out of the movie "trial" of Surratt, besides being a Catholic slaveholder (the Catholic Church held slaves in Maryland), Surratt's tavern in Surrattsville was a rendez-vous for Confederate couriers smuggling intelligence and contraband back and forth between VA and MD and the family had previously been under investigation. For a good account of these details see Surratt's biography on Wikipedia and the recent book Manhunt, on the search for Booth and the other assassins. Also to clarify some legal points, historically the Supreme Court has deferred to the military in judging military necessity, that is measures that need to be taken to overcome a belligerent enemy force. Having researched and written on this issue in my biography of Anna Ella Carroll, Lincoln's legal adviser, to my mind the fact that, as I remember, at least 2 of the assassin conspirators were former Confederate soldiers and that the nation's commander-in-chief was assassinated, provides sufficient grounds for a military commission trial. The 1942 Supreme Court Quirin decision on the German saboteurs upheld the military's right to try belligerent US citizens. Further, especially in Missouri, thousands of military commission trials tried guerrillas while civil courts still functioned. The defining criteria, as Anna Ella Carroll wrote in her war powers pamphlets is the connection of defendants to the armed forces of the rebellion. For instance, spies are always considered war criminals because they operate in conjunction with armed forces and behind lines, out of uniform. Writs of habeas corpus are also suspended for reasons of military necessity. For instance John Merryman was a MD insurrectionist in April 1861 and arrested by federal troops for his role in trying to obstruct movement of US troops to the capital to protect it. Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a writ of habeas corpus to bring him to a civil court to be charged. The commanding officer holding Merryman refused to recognize the writ citing contrary orders from the president of the United States. Also see Wikipedia about Surratt's trial results.
To my mind this is another one of the Hollywood "pro-Confederate" movies that have been prevalent since the 1940s, featuring former Confederates as poor abused souls, by those bad Yankees. Let us remember Southern slaveowners were the experts at abusing people and civil liberties in the Confederacy were severally abused.
Finally, why don't Hollywood producers produce films about Union women heroines, like Anna Ella Carroll, Mary Louvestre, Mary Bickerdyke, and Elizabeth Van Lew who lived, rather than a traitor who upheld a cause that upheld slavery at its base.
To my mind this is another one of the Hollywood "pro-Confederate" movies that have been prevalent since the 1940s, featuring former Confederates as poor abused souls, by those bad Yankees. Let us remember Southern slaveowners were the experts at abusing people and civil liberties in the Confederacy were severally abused.
Finally, why don't Hollywood producers produce films about Union women heroines, like Anna Ella Carroll, Mary Louvestre, Mary Bickerdyke, and Elizabeth Van Lew who lived, rather than a traitor who upheld a cause that upheld slavery at its base.