The Movie 12 Angry Men
Posted by Corrine Spencer | Under recreation Friday Jul 23, 201012 Angry Men was first written as a play by Reginald Rose then made into a movie in 1957 starring Henry Fonda. This riveting story begins in the midst of a jury deciding on a first degree murder charge. The setting is New York City. A teenage Puerto Rican boy from the inner city is charged with murdering his father. The judge has instructed the jury that they must come to unanimous decision. And if they all vote guilty, there will be a mandatory death sentence and the defendant will go to the electric chair.
Twelve jurors, all male spend the next several, painstaking hours deciding on the case before them. As their names and identities are kept hidden from each other, the jurors refer to each other by their jury number. Names are never used. This is symbolic of the prejudice that exists in man and how as a society we access individuals based on race, class and other outward identifiers.
As the story unfolds, we see the jurors are very agitated. It is an uncomfortable situation. They are all worn by the six day trial and all but one of them is ready to give a guilty verdict. It is the height of the summer in New York city, where summers are particularly hot and humid. They sit in a small room without much air and the majority is ready to decide and move on with their lives.
The jurors bring their own personal experiences and biases to the table which make coming to a unanimous decision very difficult. To most, the evidence appears to be overwhelming. But a closer inspection of the evidence gets way to reasonable doubt.
This thought provoking story has the audience examine the deep set prejudices based on fear and ignorance we hold against one another as a society. These men, all white, must decide the fate of a poor, uneducated Puerto Rican teenage boy. Many cannot relate to his situation, some display total indifference to his fate. Not only is this defendant on trial but so is the American Justice system as the story moves on to explore the weaknesses judicial in the system.
As we become familiar with the jurors, we begin to realize that their anger, fear, bias philosophies and cultural ignorance may hinder them from making a fair and just decision on the verdict of the case. But there is one particular juror that stands up for the defendant, ultimately standing up for justice. He is known as juror number 8.
Juror number eight, comes to the defense of the teen imploring the others to put their own personal biases aside and really examine the facts of the case. He helps them to see that all of the evidence is circumstantial. The murder weapon is a common pocket knife, that he even pulls out of his pocket.
Juror number 8 is also included in the mindset of 12 Angry Men. He also has issues he must address in order to make a fair and just decision. Juror 8 helps the others to see past their misguided views and see that this is a young man deserving of a fair verdict. Originally the first vote was eleven for guilty and juror number eight being the only dissenting vote. Through his careful analysis and sound arguments with the other jurors, he is able to convince them to change their vote. His persistence for justice saved a life.
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