Great Classic

Rating: 9/10 (8 April 2014)

12 Angry Men is as simple as it is profound, and as bare-boned as it is a showcase of true camera-work and directional complexity. It is as much a film about the justice system in America as it is a film about people; a film that lets the viewer into a single room for 90 minutes (the film moves forward quicker than real time) and examines the quirks, insecurities, prejudices and glaring background differences of twelve different characters.
The film begins in a courtroom as a murder case is coming to a close. The judge informs the twelve jurors of their duty as though it were just another day in his life, as though the defendant (an 18-year old street kid) has already been proved guilty. In general, nobody in the film expects the potential (and probable) difficulties that the viewer anticipates externally. It is an "open and shut case" as the remarkable, unnamed juror (played by Lee J. Cobb) states in the first ten minutes.
Of course it isn't, otherwise 12 Angry Men would be an "open-and-shut" film. Opening credits play over an empty room which gradually fills up as the jurors takes their seats and prepare for the ballot. Over this time, we see windows being opened, negotiations taking place and pleasantries exchanged. If these 12 men agree that the c12 Angry Men (1957) by Sidney Lumet - Unsung Filmsase presents enough evidence to show that the crime had in fact been committed, then the verdict will be guilty. But if there is any room for what the judge calls "reasonable doubt", then the verdict changes.
Each character in this film is entirely different. It almost feels as though each has been handpicked to take part in a sort of experiment – and it very much feels like we are watching one unfold. Each man represents something unalike. With one man's decision not to conform, or at least not to believe everything that was discussed in the courtroom, 12 Angry Men erupts. Gradually, we start to understand these men; first, we are let it on some of their social backgrounds – one is an immigrant (possibly Greek or French) and one admits to have grown up in the same conditions as the young defendant. Both men should be able to relate to the defendant in many ways – for a moment, we are afforded a glimpse at the defendant's face, an immigrant from an anonymous ghetto. Strangely, both men vote "guilty" without hesitation.
12 Angry Men (1957) by Sidney Lumet - Unsung FilmsHenry Fonda lets us in on his reason for disputing — he simply does not want to decide on a person's life in the space of five minutes. This is understandable; the viewer takes his side and so, it seems, does the filmmaker. But some of the jurors argue as though it were personal; as though the young man had slaughtered their own sons, daughters and wives. Some of the men, and most noticeably Cobb as juror no. 3, work themselves up into a blind fury.
As the film goes on, it becomes evident that the case was never as clear as the jurors had announced at the beginning. For some, the more reasonable and likable characters, it had simply been a case of accepting the evidence provided without questions. For others, assumptions had been made as a result of deep-rooted prejudices and massive complexes. While many change their minds with the influence of rational thought, some characters simply get angrier and more aggressive; two characters give away their racist views and the powerful scene that runs over the final ten minutes, works to reveal so much about the most moving and brilliant character portrayal in the film.
The happenings described in court unfold for a second time over the duration of 12 Angry Men. By the end, it as though we possess the same knowledge of what happened in the courtroom over the days of the trial, as the twelve men in the film. Helmed by Fonda, juror no. 8, the situation is played out again with incredible detail; every argument and theory presented to us is done so with such extreme care and passion. This is one of the film's that stay with you for a lifetime because its simplicity allows itself to be engraved in the mind, while the complexity of it demands that you make sure it is.