Film: Jessica Kellgren-Hayes
One hot room
Most directors, when handed a script, will consider a variety of locations in order to broaden the story. They will insert as many different backgrounds as time, money and narrative will allow. After all, wouldn’t it be terribly boring to watch an entire plot unfold in one small space?
The genius of director Sidney Lumet’s potent ‘12 Angry Men’ is that we forget that all of the action takes place in just one small, claustrophobic space because the dialogue and story move at such a pace!
Gradually, as the film progresses, Lumet moves the walls of the studio set closer and closer in. He changes the camera lenses to reduce the apparent distance between the backgrounds and the figures prowling the room, ramping up the tension even further.
The twelve men are a jury who must decide the fate of an 18-year-old who is accused of stabbing his abusive father to death. If the boy is found guilty he will go to the chair and eleven of the jurors are convinced he did it. ‘Juror No 8’, played by Henry Fonda, isn’t so sure, and gradually his doubts infect the others.
The bigotry and stupidity established at the outset are convincingly overcome by a combination of compassion and clear thinking. The film is a marvel that shows how nothing but dialogue can affect change. Even the ‘bad guys’ around the table (‘Juror No 3’, played by Lee J Cobb, and ‘Juror No 10’, played by Ed Begley) have their mesmerisingly monstrous moments but are still markedly human. We feel sympathy when No 3 is finally crushed by the realization of his own inadequacy as a father.
By far the most spellbinding moment of the film, however, is when No 10’s racist rant prompts the others, slowly, one by one, to leave the table and stand with their backs to him, each an icy tower in this boiling room.
We are in no doubt from the opening moments that the room is an oven: it is the hottest day of the year and there is no air conditioning. The single, wall-mounted fan seems to be out of order and beads of sweat glisten on foreheads and shirt backs become increasingly damp. It is no wonder these men are so desperate to leave the room and want nothing more than an easy verdict. Unfortunately ‘easy’ means the death sentence for a teenager.
The camerawork is magnificent: at the beginning of the film all of the cameras are positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater distance between the subjects. As we progress the cameras slip down to eye level and by the end of the film, nearly all of it is shot in close-up, below eye-level, with telephoto lenses to increase the encroaching sense of claustrophobia. This film is a work of genius.
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