great movie, great actors, all-time classic

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2016)

This is a very good kind of theatrical movie, it has great actors, a serious plot, and gives a lot to think about. I can't say that I enjoy watching trials on screen (like, I really love "To kill the mockingbird", but it isn't for the trial scenes, however dramatic and well-played). Regardless of that, I will sit down to watch this movie again, just for the big ideas behind it, and the great play of actors. The movie is all about the hasty choices we make about somebody else's lives, because we want to carry on with our own, we rush things and can end up sending someone to the "chair" with our hastiness. Luckily, in this jury on screen there was one man who was willing to say "wait, is there really evidence enough to send this man to the chair, and do so right away, without even considering some possibilities of his innocence?" There turn out to be so many possible ways in which the witnesses could be interested in giving false evidence that in the end it strikes you atrocious that the other 11 men wanted to send the (probably) innocent boy to the chair. And again, if it wasn't for another man to doubt the boy's guiltiness (the old man, who said member of the jury number 8 "wanted support, so I gave it to him"), nothing would come out of it. Yet, he switched because he also wasn't 100% certain of the crime being the convicted boy's doing. The most astonishing was to hear the "I will kill you!" said by one of the members of the jury to another, and that I think owing not only to the agitated state of the jurer (who had his hear in the matter, because of the relationship with his son). I think it was to make the plot more dramatic, and obviously give evidence that a shout like this cannot necessarily mean that one carries out the stated intention. Speaking of the member of the jury who wanted to punish his son through the convict's death, I found that very convincing. His character and his play was believable, corroborated with his cynical words in the beginning: "I think those bastards need to be dealt with before they cause any trouble. Save us time and money." And his position as the last one to switch, the most stubborn, and the one that took this case the most personally is logical. Dostoevsky once said that one cannot send anyone to death for killing. He explained that by the difference in the feelings of a person strangled to death by mercenaries, and the person being put to death by the court. According to him, the victim of a sudden attack always has hope when he is dying, until the very last minute. And hope is taken away from the person that is murdered for the murder of another, legally. I do not know if I agree, for there are very serious cases. But that is something to think about, something related to this great movie.