Imagine a filmmaker walking into a boardroom today and trying to pitch this...

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2013)

Imagine a filmmaker walking into a boardroom today and trying to pitch the following movie: 12 men sit in a room for 90 minutes in real time and argue with each other. They're discussing a murder case, but the murder isn't actually shown, they just talk about it. It would be shot down today, because it's not the kind of movie that we're used to seeing in cinemas – public tastes have changed. Or so Hollywood seems to think, but this movie is in IMDb's 10 top rated movies of all time. This took me slightly by surprise before I saw "12 Angry Men". It's a movie made more than 50 years ago, and yet it's still more popular than any "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars" film. It's a testament to the public, I think, showing that old movies have not grown stale, and are still appreciated as much as new flicks.
The film itself completely deserves its position on the IMDb list. It's not one of the best movies ever made, but it is a skilfully crafted, well acted drama which is intellectually stimulating and actually quite thrilling throughout, despite the lack of action. It's far more than it says on the tin, since each one of its 12 characters is well written and of great importance to the story. Henry Fonda particularly shines in the film as the one juror trying to fight for a "not guilty" verdict on the grounds of reasonable doubt. He takes it upon himself to convince the other 11 to change their minds, and through this, changes the audience's view of the case as well. The progression of his arguments and logic is extremely clever and his unpicking of information that we've had throughout makes us admire him even more.
The film covers so much ground in so little time and space. All of the jurors are unnamed for the majority of the film, and we're not dealing with specific characters most of the time, but members of the public from all parts of society. There's someone each of us can relate to, and we leave the film considering how we would deal with the case. Lumet uses the single setting to his technical advantage, managing to create a disturbing sense of claustrophobia as the film progresses, and the use of real time is so important in making us feel like we're on the same level as the characters and not missing a single detail.
"12 Angry Men" completely deserves to be seen as a classic. It's both a masterly technical achievement, and a fantastic lesson in mob mentality and not being afraid to go against a crowd.