Who would knew that 12 "Angry" men in a room on a long dialog would become an ULTIMATE CLASSIC? Really who?!

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2013)

12 Men with totally different personalities, located in a room with a bathroom, proved only through words and insults that justice is not an exact science. And also managed to become a timeless classic in the history of cinema thanks to a 20 years old director, Sidney Lumet cheers!
The story of "12 Angry Men" is not one that can be reinvent or repeated (despite the fact that it had a good and underrated Reboot in 1997), because the young Lumet and screenwriter Reginald Rose made it a unique experience (and experience several times if you buy on Blu-Ray or download through the internet, easy enough). Everything begins on a normal day like any other in a court where the camera follows the corridors, and shows people and lawyers walking from one side to the other, people getting out fresh from the courtroom, some relieved some doesn't. Once we are in one room with the judge finishing the meeting and sending the 12 juries to the other room to decide the final sentence of a 18 year old boy that, as the evidence presented, "prove" that he killed his father in a rage attack. The Jurors come into the other room, normal mans who had never met and are there to lend their public service. All normal as if nothing was happening, certain that all the evidence is concrete and the boy is guilty, and a cold-blooded killer. But juror nº 8 (Henry Fonda) disagrees, he does not believe in the innocence of the boy, but also do not believe in his guilt. Now one man must face 11 that fully believe in the guilt of the boy and are tired to go home.
Nowadays, the film for this new generation would be boring or perhaps "impossible to happen". Perhaps the film has to be viewed with a free and spirit mind to see the tremendous and beautiful message of justice that Lumet's classic tries to transmit. The film, NEVER for one minute gets to be boring or incomprehensible, the direction is superb and all that, but it's the script and the performances that stand out strongly in the film. A story that goes inside one room (and bathroom) had to have one writing at the level of "non- boring ", no problems with Reginald Rose's screenplay with an amazing flowing narrative, I dare say that perhaps this is the best screenplay ever written (up there with "The Godfather" and "Pulp Fiction").
From the beginning the audience grasps the plot heavily, not only by the superb script, but the wonderful performances. In the cast we have all the kings of acting from the golden age of cinema, from the heroic Henry Fonda to the ferocious Lee J. Cobb (juror nº 3), to the calm John Fiedler (juror nº 2) and the satirical Jack Warden (juror No. 7). I say the names of the actors because none of them mentions the name throughout the film, really putting the audience in that room with those men discussing the case.
I say that the film proves that justice is not an exact science, because thanks to the character of Henry Fonda, the film is full of arguments and assumptions against all evidences presented at the beginning of the case, the case is not shown but through dialogs from the 12 characters. Arguments that are not only to the 12 to think and reflect, but to the movie's audience. Such arguments come in the form of structured dialogs; several of them focus on various topics since politics to social problems and even ophthalmology. The film is not boring annoying also because of the various funny moments with a good intelligent humor, but where there is room for humor there is too no place for pure tension between the characters, tension coming only by words .
A classic that will forever be etched and remembered in cinema, thanks to a flawless script and a marvelous cast, a film full of tension and humor and a message of justice that fits perfectly in our today's society, and an emotive finale, "12 Angry Men" is a must see film at least once in your lives. and many more for pure pleasure!