12

This is billed as the Russian version of 12 Angry Men I’d rather describe it as “inspired by,” as there are significant differences, not all of them made necessary by transplanting the story into a different culture. The biggest difference is that in the original, we never saw the defendant. Here, we constantly flash back to scenes of the boy’s life. The crime he is accused of doing was committed in Chechnya, in the midst of the ongoing conflict there. One juror views the Chechens as pretty much subhuman. So there is a political element that the first one lacked. This is not in itself a bad thing, but I think it was a big mistake to show us more of the situation than the jurors know. It seemed so much stronger to have him be a totally unseen presence, the 13th man in the room and the only one who won’t go home tonight if the verdict is guilty. I think we could lose all the scenes outside the jury room (deliberations actually take place in an empty gym, which gives the actors something to do other than talk), and it would be a better movie. Also, in the original, the defendant was never proven to be innocent, he was just not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Reasonable doubt was the key theme there; here, it’s pretty much certain that he is, in fact, innocent, and I think this is a mistake, too. The writer provided a uniquely Russian ending that I thought was interesting. All in all, this is a pretty good film, and an actor’s bonanza. I’ll bet every actor in Russia wanted to be in it, and the 12 who made the cut are all very good.