Cinema
12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet · 1957
Synopsis
On a sweltering day in New York, a judge reminds twelve jurors that at the slightest reasonable doubt they must acquit, and that a guilty verdict will mean the death penalty. The defendant is an eighteen-year-old boy, tried for the murder of his father. In the deliberation room, the fan does not work, and one of the jurors, who has tickets for the evening's game, wants to finish quickly. A first vote by show of hands gives eleven votes for guilt and one against.
Context
The film was shot in about twenty days, almost entirely on a single set, after two weeks of rehearsals. Its director himself described his method: he gradually moved to longer lenses so that the room would seem to shrink, and filmed the first third above eye level, the second at eye level, the last below it, so that the ceiling ends up entering the frame. The last shot, in front of the courthouse, is taken with the widest lens in the film, so that one can finally breathe. A failure in cinemas, the film found its audience through television broadcasts.
Who it is for
One hour thirty-five minutes, almost all in a single room; as the story advances, one can follow the tightening of the frame that the director describes.
Prizes and reception
Golden Bear at Berlin in 1957 and three Oscar nominations; eighty-seventh of the American Film Institute's hundred best American films in 2007.
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