First and foremost the movie is 'almost' a remake (loose remake) of English classic 12 angry men, both dealing with 12 jurors attempting to make a judgment of teenager's fate with the limited information they have. This is the 3rd version of 12 angry men including original that I have seen and liked it equally; the other one is "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" from India. I used 'almost' earlier because in this Russian version it's the politics/war (Chechnya-Russia relations) in the backdrop and also the ending is twisted to a certain extent. Now that being said, I will only talk about this movie here but do keep in mind that many points will actually apply to original one too (both pros and cons).
The plot involves 12 jurors attempting to make an important decision on Chechnya teenager charged with the murder of his Russian step father. The jurors are accommodated in school gym, which for me was one of the major pros and works so well with the script, as the actors got some props like piano, soccer ball, wheel chair, weights and which are all used at one point or other to great success. Also the huge space allows the actors free movement around the gym, to reconstruct the crime scene based on floor plans, plus one of the best scene in the movie would not have been possible if not for the space.
Pros: The characters are well defined, everyone gets chance to explain their situation and find relevance to the case, or why their vote is swinging from guilty to not guilty and so forth. The actors performing their respective characters are very believable. The film moves at a good pace and at times explodes out with some great acting. One of such scene is when a cab driver explains "what if" scenario to producer sitting on a wheel chair, it is as good as it gets and the actors performing this are in top form. The use of wheelchair, gym instruments, soccer ball and space just makes it even more worth watching. Then there is a scene where doctor starts dancing with the knife is again top quality. There are other scenes too which are equally good and wonderfully played by all the actors. Dialogues are at times really witty (esp. when taxi driver talks about his new girlfriend), dramatic, and emotional at times. Nikita Mikhalkov is at the top of his game, direction wise. Then there is a little twist towards the end which makes movie even good.
Cons: The only con with the movie is the way jurors come to the decision which is solely based on the guess work and their better judgments of character and people. But again it is already made clear to us that the defense lawyer didn't present the case with great enthusiasm, so eventually all the jurors reasoning actually makes sense to us, even though not supported by actual evidence. But then in the end we know for fact that the boy is indeed innocent, and we can finally sigh, good work jurors!!
You might really enjoy 12 even if either you haven't seen 12 Angry Men, or if you did watch English classic and don't fall in comparison trap. I enjoyed and liked both these movies!
The plot involves 12 jurors attempting to make an important decision on Chechnya teenager charged with the murder of his Russian step father. The jurors are accommodated in school gym, which for me was one of the major pros and works so well with the script, as the actors got some props like piano, soccer ball, wheel chair, weights and which are all used at one point or other to great success. Also the huge space allows the actors free movement around the gym, to reconstruct the crime scene based on floor plans, plus one of the best scene in the movie would not have been possible if not for the space.
Pros: The characters are well defined, everyone gets chance to explain their situation and find relevance to the case, or why their vote is swinging from guilty to not guilty and so forth. The actors performing their respective characters are very believable. The film moves at a good pace and at times explodes out with some great acting. One of such scene is when a cab driver explains "what if" scenario to producer sitting on a wheel chair, it is as good as it gets and the actors performing this are in top form. The use of wheelchair, gym instruments, soccer ball and space just makes it even more worth watching. Then there is a scene where doctor starts dancing with the knife is again top quality. There are other scenes too which are equally good and wonderfully played by all the actors. Dialogues are at times really witty (esp. when taxi driver talks about his new girlfriend), dramatic, and emotional at times. Nikita Mikhalkov is at the top of his game, direction wise. Then there is a little twist towards the end which makes movie even good.
Cons: The only con with the movie is the way jurors come to the decision which is solely based on the guess work and their better judgments of character and people. But again it is already made clear to us that the defense lawyer didn't present the case with great enthusiasm, so eventually all the jurors reasoning actually makes sense to us, even though not supported by actual evidence. But then in the end we know for fact that the boy is indeed innocent, and we can finally sigh, good work jurors!!
You might really enjoy 12 even if either you haven't seen 12 Angry Men, or if you did watch English classic and don't fall in comparison trap. I enjoyed and liked both these movies!