If you're looking for a recent release that also has substance, take a look at Robert Redford's film The Conspirator. The film explores the fate of Mary Surratt, a woman implicated in the plot to kill Lincoln, and while we will leave commentary about the film's historical accuracy to others, the story makes a powerful presentation of the conflict between law and expediency, scapegoating and national forgiveness.

In times of emergency, it can be difficult for individuals and, indeed, whole nations to keep clear vision. In such times, individual rights are often trampled in the name of safety and emergency. The Conspirator does a wonderful job of bringing these feelings to light as Frederick Aiken, Mary's defense lawyer, struggles to defend individual rights in the face of one of the greatest national tragedies in American history, even at the expense of his own career and reputation.

Though the story is in many ways a tragedy, Aiken himself emerges as a hero in the vein of Atticus Finch as he sets a historical example of virtue and courage worthy of reflection and emulation.