Sidney Lumet: Political Filmmaker

Rating: Null/10 (1 September 2001)

I realized, watching "12 Angry Men," what an intensely political film it is. The term "ahead of its time," is one I try to avoid, since no person, whether artist or businessman, is ahead of their time. They are, inextricably, unavoidably, a part of their time. But this is a film made in 1957--that's a pretty long time ago, culturally speaking--and it's still inarguably timely. The lead character, Henry Fonda (Juror #8), tries to force people out of making a decision based solely on race and personal convenience. The jury is deliberating a murder conviction, a young immigrant accused of stabbing his father, with ample circumstantial evidence that any "good" citizen could stand by if they needed to justify their vote. Most of the jury member want to get the decision over and done with hastily; they have personal errands on their minds, games they want to watch, people they prefer to see. And it's hot that day, very hot--air conditioning is not an option. Under these conditions, Fonda asks much of his fellow jurors: he asks them to put aside thier usual concerns for their own schedules; he demands that they dislodge many years of easy prejudices corroding their judgment; he pleads that they take the time to try and reconstruct other people's points of view, something most of these men clearly don't make a habit of. It's poignant toward the conclusion, after the men leave the courthouse, when one man admiringly asks Fonda his name. They exhange surnames, and then part, realizing either that they're incapable of small talk with each other after such a momentous moral experience--or perhaps that they have nothing in common now that they've emerged into the light of day.
I don't think Lumet is viewed as political filmmaker as he truly is. "12 Angry Men" was his film debut, an astonishing accomplishment. But think of many of his subsequent films: a documentary on Martin Luther King's journeys; "Serpico," which charts the crusade of a copy compelled to question an entrenched system that wasn't working very well; the "Pawnbroker," is another powerful film, about how a concentration camp survivor tries to avoid dealing with the moral complications of the outside world once he's back in it; "Dog Day Afternoon" is about a character who is fed up with not having enough money for all the human responsibilities pulling at him. The protagonists in these films are all people that confront or have confronted systems of discrimination, be they racial or economic. And there is nothing more political than examining tyrannies. It's a brave body of work, one to be admired, and "12 Angry Men" is a great place to start.