Not-Guilty—Why “12 Angry Men” is once in a lifetime movie.

This blog discusses the beautiful representation of a crime drama film, which comes once in a lifetime. Hence, the topic is called “Not Guilty—Why 12 Angry Men is once in a lifetime movie.”

Introduction 

“12 Angry Men” is an American courtroom drama released in 1957. This is a film about the jury of a first degree murder charge. An 18-year-old boy, who was accused of killing his father. The court ask the jury to decide whether he is guilty or not, saying, “One man is dead. Another man's life is at stake”. So they are given a grave responsibility to send the boy to the death chair or give him his life back. 

Story telling

“12 Angry Men” is one of the best stories in the whole film industry. In other film, you may see an entire story and know what is the truth, the jury hears the case and gives a decision (They will not show the discussion of jury). But in “12 Angry Men” they don't show the story but reveal it.  This is what makes “12 Angry Men” different. The jury sits down in a room and starts with a vote. 11 men pleads “guilty” and 1 man pleads “not guilty”. They start reasoning why they are guilty. The reasoning interpreters the entire story about what happened. The story dynamics start to change in every accusation and arguments. The conversation among the jury also reveals the backstory of the boy's upbringing, nature, society. And it also reveals the statement of witnesses and murder weapon. This movie starts with a man's hope of false claim. The film goes through a game of assumptions and mathematical analyses. This is so far one of the most intelligent ways of telling a story. 

Characters

The 12 characters of the jury are of different personalities. 11 of the characters might have the same discussion, but their thoughts are different. You will see egoistic person, Judgmental people, Intellectual person, respectful person, good listeners who get into less conversation, ignorant person, simpleminded person, grumpy person. 

The most common is all of them are angry at each other for stating different points of views. 

Importance to Details

The director of the film “Sidney Lumet” and the writer “Reginald Rose” did their best to keep it real and original. The most important issue in Judicial system is the use of exact statement. They pulled it off a very good way. In a scene, one of the jury said the father slapped the boy multiple times. But another jury immediately corrected him by saying “Not slap, punch”. This is a very significant thing that slap and punch makes a lot of difference in a case. They discuss the position and sound of an elevated train. They gave realistic effect by reacting to the noise of cough. The delay of the meeting was shown beautifully by sending characters to the washroom. Using personal experience of the characters to help the case, use of murder weapon and noticing on details of witness and criminal, all this small details gave the film life.

Cinematography 

The camera work and cinematography in this film is phenomenal. From panning throughout the court building following random people and getting into room 228 where the actual story starts is a genius way to fool the viewers. Panning from the jury on left to jury on right just to introduce the characters is a great idea. The close up shots of every character to give the emotion express through face is another solid point job. The story doesn’t jump from one place to another. Incidents might happen in 2 different place, but the filler to those two destinations are work of professional. Everyone going inside a room, taking a sit, getting comfortable, knowing each other, having small talks, but the camera is not focusing on any individual conversation but giving the entirety of a mass gathering experience. The other spot is washroom where they are washing face and hands and having small talks. The special shots are when they deliver some silent moments, showing every face in a certain direction. And also another brilliant shot is the follow-up shots. 

Actors and acting 

The cast of “12 Angry Men” played their role very well. Actors like Henry Fonda, Lee J Cobb, Joseph Sweeney, Martin Balsam, Ed Begley, Jack Klungman, Jack Warden, John Fiedler, E.g., Marshall, Edward Binns, Robert Webber, George Voskovec has given their greatest performance of their life in this film. The portrayal of intimidation, interrupting others dialogues, yelling out of frustration, the rage from the heat of the room was top-notch. The random acting like having regular conversations which is not the center of the main clip, shifting the focus to the rain outside are also great to give a natural experience of the film as a whole.

Portrayal of environment 

The first portrayal of the film is, the quote of George Washington used outside the New York City Supreme Court which is “THE TRUE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IS THE FIRMEST PILLAR OF GOOD GOVERNMENT.” The other portrayals of the film gave life to it. Like the heat of the room, fans not working, broken table, stuck window, towel dispenser in the washroom not working, the actual situation of a Government place, rain starts in the middle, fan and light connection is connected. These things add flavor to the film. 

Conclusion 

From being the only person pleading “Not guilty” to convincing everyone to save an 18-year-old kid who was falsely accused of murdering his own father, “12 Angry Men” is a brilliant story ever made. A 1 hour and 36 minutes of total drama, fulfills the need of entertainment and leaves you in awe. This type of uniqueness in story telling is rare this days. No doubt, “12 Angry Men” is definitely a once in a lifetime story to watch.

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