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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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Since 1996 |
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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12 Stars: Sergei Makovetsky, Sergey Garmash, Aleksei Petrenko, Yuriy Stayanov, Sergei Gazarov and Nikita Mikhalkov Director: Nikita Mikhalkov Scriptwriters: Nikita Mikhalkov and Vladmir Maiseyenko Russian language (subtitles) Studio Trite Productions Rating: PG 13 for war violence and language Running Length: 160 minutes One of the outstanding jury films ever made is 12 Angry Men with Henry Fonda in a stellar role. Now, comes a similar Russian film about a sequestered jury of twelve men trying to reach a verdict in their judicial system. You have to stay with this film and let it grow on you. Watch the mannerisms of the jury. Pay attention when there are flashbacks. This is a thinking person's film, so stay awake. The premise has a teenage boy being charged with the stabbing murder of his adoptive father. The boy is in a small prison cell and trying to adapt. In the meantime, the jury has been taken to a school for their work. A guard stands by the door and inside, the twelve men settle in. First comes making the place habitable for them in case they are there for a day or two. Well, as it turns out, they ARE there for a day or two. Eleven for Guilty and one for Not Guilty. The debates begin. All is not smooth here, first of all with their surroundings as they have to fight a decaying building, power outage and their own temperaments and prejudices. Two men are Jews and this causes a problem for some jurors. Flashbacks show the story of the boy from his youth until now. War has decimated his family, he is alone, and he knows what prejudice is as the different factions of Russian politics battle within the country. People in Chechnya, especially, suffer. The horrors of war are brought into the audience's realm, but the jury doesn't know this. They can only surmise what might have happened to this boy who is seen as being from the Caucasus area. The men want to be honest and fair. As the film goes along, each member of the jury tells his story and we get to know these men and see where they are coming from. Each story told (think "1001 Nights" here) has an effect on the others. The vote changes, changes and changes again. The acting is especially well done and the 12 actors on the jury meld into a group trying to find an answer. In the meantime, the boy in prison is trying to find an answer, too, and that is to living in a cell. War changes people and mostly for the worse elements in them. It can be revenge, a numbing of the mind or escape, but one thing rings true throughout the film, and that is the statement of "...once a Russian soldier, always a Russian soldier." This can be true of any country. Copyright 2009 Marie Asner
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