One of the greatest achievements of the legal systems of the Anglosphere, and more specifically the United Kingdom, is the phenomenon of trial by jury. Twelve randomly selected jurors judge our most serious crimes. The jurors some bright, some not, some eager to undertake this duty towards our society and some for whom jury service is not a sacred duty but instead an inconvenience, are all pressed into service to pass judgement on those on trial.
What goes on in the jury room is a mystery to many, especially to those in jurisdictions where it is forbidden to disclose or publish the content of the debate in the jury room. We can only speculate as to what goes through jurors minds and the words that they say when deliberating on a case.
However there some movies that take the jury room setting and turn it into a gripping drama. One of those movies is Twelve Angry Men. In this film a jury retire to consider their verdict on a young man who is accused of murder. The decision they have to make will have grave outcomes as this movie is set in America in a death penalty jurisdiction. This jury have the power to either believe the defendants account of events or condemn the man to death.
The players in this drama start off their deliberations with very fixed views on the guilt of the defendant. Some are adamant that the defendant deserves to die and others believe that there is reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt. The jurors argue amongst themselves from their fixed positions but start to examine in more detail the evidence that had been presented to them in the court. Questions such as: could the murder have been witnessed in the way that the prosecution had claimed and inconsistencies in the victim’s injuries and the timing of the incident, start to trouble the jurors.
This version of the film is not the famous Henry Fonda version from 1957 that many readers may be familiar with, but a much earlier live TV version from 1954. Because this performance was apparently rendered live to broadcast, it has very much the feel of a stage play about it. This is a really good version of this famous tale but the because of technical limitations regarding TV equipment back in the 1950’s the video quality is not fabulous. I was really glad to discover that this film was available to watch and enjoyed it immensely. I do hope that you also enjoy this tale as well.
