Brilliance in one room

Rating: 10/10 (24 October 2016)

Jury duty is a service in which different people take in different manners and approach it with different minds. Some who have never experienced it feel obliged to express a close interest while other regular jurors show less empathy towards the accused. These 12 men were expecting the usual court case of assault, robbery or another petty crime. However, the 18 year old suspect was accused of murdering his father by sticking a switchblade 4 inches into the center of his chest. The trial went on for several days until it was time for the 12 men to go off into a small, muggy room and agree on one life changing decision, guilty or not guilty. A verdict was made rapidly as most of the jurors accused the boy of being guilty; exempt from this one man who stood by his vote of not guilty.
From here on out, the tale is thrilling. Most of the jurors believed the boy was guilty but weren't 100% sure, and the one exempt juror stood by his vote of not guilty as he believed the life of an 18 year old boy deserved a little more debate and thought. Unlike others, such as one man who had baseball game tickets for that night and the owner of a business who has work to do, this man was willing and brave enough to stand against 11 others and fight his case. For the first 20 minutes of the film, this fierce man stood alone against 11 angry men as he wasn't completely convinced that the boy was guilty. That is an incredibly brave and caring thing to do. As the jurors spent the evening tracing back over evidence and alibis and small details of the witnesses, one by one, this unique man managed to persuade each juror to change their verdict to save an innocent boy from the electric chair.
This film gripped me from the beginning as it touched on the jurors' backstories and camera angles slowly got closer as the film edged to its final verdict. It depicts that one man can change the world. Through close analysis of evidence and exceptional charisma, one man succeeded in changing the minds of 11 other stubborn men who all stood against him to begin with. This film was set in the 1950's which was a time of high discrimination against many races. The writers cleverly left the suspect's race and ethnicity unknown to show the jurors could be talking about anyone. It is revealed that the suspect grew up in a slum however, which caused prejudice from some jurors. The fact that a man can stand for an unfortunate boy and empathize for his background inspires me. It shows what humans can do, inspire a generation, and what humans have done. The work of people such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela is truly incredible. Inspiration and persuasion are powerful tools in this world and we must use them in the right way to create a better future for ourselves and our descendants.
The themes of this film were fantastic despite the majority of the screen time being spent in one room. It had justice, family, honor, death and many more deeper meanings and teachings about life. It shows that you don't need a high budget or special effects to make a great film; all you need is a thrilling tale, incredible acting and hidden morals. I have scored this film 8/10. If I watch it again, it may go up to 9.