Tuesday, March 26, 2013

"12 Angry Men" Prejudice

"12 Angry Men" is one of the best movies about the US system of Justice. The entire movie takes place in a Jury Room full of 12 men tasked with determining if a young man murdered his father. 11 of the men enter the jury room with their mind made up that the accused is guilty. However, 1 lone Juror, they are never given names (Save for 2 in a passing reference), played by the great Henry Fonda is not so sure. Fonda's Juror #8 is not certain of the Accused's innocence but he is sure that they have to get the decision right. From that one Juror the men listen and begin to look critically at the evidence they were presented from both sides and come to a unanimous decision based not on their initial knee jerk reaction, but on a critical though process of sifting through the evidence and looking at it all as one and not just a fractured picture of the scene of the murder. The Jurors also come to realize that it is no easy task to hold a young man's life in their hands. In this scene, Juror #9, Joseph Sweeney, displays his prejudice against the accused and people like him, saying he is "one of them" (in the film the accused is an Italian Young man.) Instead of listening to this kind of ridiculous rant from a clearly biased individual, all the rest of the Jurors tune him out, and many stand up and turn their back on him. Juror #9 soon relaizes his point has alienated him and is devastated that his opinion is making an enemy of him to all the other Jurors. Great film directed by the late Sidney Lumet. Enjoy!

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