Life in their Hands- Death in their Minds

{ February 11, 2010 @ 11:22 pm } · { Uncategorized }

One room. One case. One day. An old but a fascinating movie to boggle up the minds of teenagers and adults. The 1957 movie by Sidney Lumet called 12 Angry Men features the very popular Henry Fonda who has won an Oscar and thirteen other awards for his acts in movies. As I had read the book 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose, I bought the dvd version of the movie just curious about how the movie would be shown on screen. On the internet movie database site, IMDB.com, it was rated really high, so I chose to spend my free time on a Friday night watching an old movie about people talking. To my SURPRISE, it was great, the time was worthwhile. By the visuals, the movie was able to tell me so much more about the American trial and the idea of unreasonable doubt that surrounds the whole movie.

The story revolves around a murder trial of a Latino teenager who is accused of murdering his father. If the teenager is found guilty, it would mean a death sentence. The teenager’s life depends on a group of twelve men with ranging personalities. The case seems obvious at first with the murder weapon of the teenager’s fingerprints and the witness testimonies that all points the finger at the teenager. While all the jurors believe that there’s a high or a definite possibility of the case being a murder by the son, one man of the name of Mr. Davis (Henry Fonda) discusses the reasonable doubt of the trial. As the film progresses forward, the personalities of the jurors and the underlying reasons for their decisions become visible and as to why this teenager by the slightest reasonable doubt may not be guilty after all.

Twelve Angry Men is indeed one of the best movies that I have ever seen. The whole movie occurring in just one room in just one day, it showed how much equality and care that people have the United States. A great movie and highly recommended for teenagers learning about the American trial system. A classic that will never be forgotten in the movie industry.