12 Angry Men
The premise is great, there is no doubt about that: There is a sure-fire case and the whole movie discusses nothing but, well, the jury’s discussion. I think there is a certain beauty associated with that: A film that does not try to be too much, but delivers one simple story effectively.
This is one of those films that is so brilliant that its bad points stand out more than if it were ‘merely’ a mediocre film. First, I didn’t like how some of the characters were too easy to see through. Especially the racist guy’s final monologue was excruciatingly long and painful because of that – nobody would ever talk like this, even though aspects of its speech were exactly mirroring certain people’s (“I have a lot of gay friends” or “Of course there are exceptions”). But nowadays, racists are beyond the point of saying things like these which would uncover them as obviously racist, people are much more subtle, making it so much more difficult to talk to them. Second, I am not a huge fan at how the main character was bringing out one argument at a time. It’s wonderful for the film’s development and suspense that goes with it, but I just find it too unbelievable for its own good. Most of all, though, I was horribly annoyed at how some of the arguments were played out. At first, some guy wanted to say “not guilty”, was asked why to which he replied something like “I can make my own decisions, I don’t have to tell you”. Later on, somebody else wanted to plead “not guilty”, is being asked the same thing but for no reason is being forced to give reasons. This movie is a little bit too partial for its own good, and slightly inconsistent at that.
But, what can I say – wonderful premise and absolutely great execution; the actors were fairly brilliant. This film could (might?) have been shot on a budget and would work perfectly as a theatre play. Maybe I am partial to the type of film that could as well have been a theatre play, but in many ways, this is quite a unique yet simple story. I think this is something quite educational for children to see indeed.