12 angry men... Life Is In Their Hands -- Death Is On Their Minds

I happend to see this movie last week... a very good movie.

The movie opens in a court room after the prosecution and defence has summarised their arguments. Its a murder case, a 16 year old slum boy murdering his drunken and abusive dad. Judge asks the 12 jury members to come to an unanimous decision. The case looks very week on the defense side and if all the jury members are convinced, the boy will be sent to chair.

The entire movie, an hour and half long, happens in a single room where the 12 members debate about the case. 11 would vote guilty in the very first voting while Henry Fonda alone would say otherwise. Now as a unanimous decision is needed, the 11 jury members will try to convince him. What makes the movie very interesting is the characterisation. Each character is unique, old man, agressive man, adament man, educated man, over confident, talkative, selfish, submisive, passive, stupid... you name it, one of the character will suit the bill...

Eventually Henry Fonda will endup convincing the remaining 11 members that the boy is not guilty but how he does that is quite marvelous. In modern day cinema, with all the technology and all the glamour factors, directors find it difficult to make a movie which is watchable for an hour.

With no modern technology (its a 1957 movie) and no women character atall, its quite an impressive screenplay that will make you sit till the very end...

also the way the Hero tackles each character is just awesome. You can learn lot on how to win an argument :)