A courtroom drama classic, 12 Angry Men is gripping, not only with respect to the murder case at hand, but also as a study in psychological methods of persuasion. Directed by Sidney Lumet to a screenplay by Reginald Rose, the film’s storytelling technique is ingenious; ninety three of the film’s ninety six minutes, take place outside the courtroom, keeping the drama within the jury room and the adjoining washroom. The excellent cast is led by a wonderful Henry Fonda.
Though taking extensive liberties with the legal jury deliberation process, 12 Angry Men focuses primarily on the different personalities of the jurors, and their prejudices. To a point these personalities are a quite stereotypical, but within the context of the time the film was made, this flaw is forgivable. At the center of the plot’s legal discussion is the principal of reasonable doubt, a principal that may result in a death sentence for an 18 yo Puerto Rican youth on trial for allegedly stabbing his father to death. It is also interesting to observe, in the mirror of time, how a socio-legal drama of the 50’s, excluded women and African-Americans, from being members of the jury. In that sense this film preserve a piece of history in more than one way, as injustice due to social and ethnic background sip into the fabric of the story’s itself. 12 Angry Men is an absorbing film, one worth watching again.