12 Angry Men

I'm a sucker for great movies. Well, the terms great movies vary from one person to another. The definition of great movies is very abstract, as people tends to categorised differently from one another. Ok, this is not what I'm going to write.

I wanted to share with you this great movie.
12 Angry Men, debuted on July 1957.



Plot Summary:

"12 Angry Men" focuses on a jury's deliberations in a capital murder case. A 12-man jury is sent to begin deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of an 18-year-old Latino accused in the stabbing death of his father, where a guilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. The case appears to be open-and-shut: The defendant has a weak alibi; a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene; and several witnesses either heard screaming, saw the killing or the boy fleeing the scene. Eleven of the jurors immediately vote guilty; only Juror No. 8 (Mr. Davis) casts a not guilty vote. At first Mr. Davis' bases his vote more so for the sake of discussion after all, the jurors must believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. As the deliberations unfold, the story quickly becomes a study of the jurors' complex personalities (which range from wise, bright and empathetic to arrogant, prejudiced and merciless), preconceptions, backgrounds and interactions. That provides the backdrop to Mr. Davis' attempts in convincing the other jurors that a "not guilty" verdict might be appropriate.

(taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/plotsummary)

This is why I am labeling it as a great movie:

Honestly, how many movies have you seen in which the recording was only made in 1 set? About 98% of the whole 96 minutes on the movie took place inside a room (in the beginning, a brief moment inside the court house, then in middle of the movie another brief moment inside the men's room). But the intensity of the film is amazing. It doesn't need extra shots of the crime, or additional emotional scene which will induced bias feelings amongst viewers. The characters of the films were introduced slowly but steadily, giving enough time for them to mature and gel together to make up to the whole film. The lighting and camera angle of the room makes it feel claustrophobic, adding to the intensity of the movie. No killing or blood or gruesome murder are needed to make the movie intense. It's strictly plot driven and the growth of the movie depends heavily on the dialogues and emotions of the actors. It's really an awesome movie, trust me.

(p.s - the whole movie can be watched at youtube, if you don't mind waiting for 10 parts of clips)