12

Reginald Rose's screenplay for the 1955 courtroom drama 12 Angry Men left audiences with a sense of pride in a legal system in which one committed person could influence fellow jurors in reaching a just verdict. Nikita Mikhalkov's Russian adaptation retains the basic plot, as deliberations over the fate of a young man evolve from an initial 11-1 vote for conviction to a surprise acquittal, but situates the story in the post-Soviet regime while infusing it with a strongly Slavic spirit. In contrast to the American original, 12 presents much more background information about the defendant—a Chechen youngster (Apti Magamayev) accused of stabbing his adopted father—interrupting the jury's deliberations with flashback scenes of his childhood in a war-torn homeland. Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men played out in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a tiny, hot jury room, but here the men argue in a large gymnasium, striding about while making flamboyant gestures. Echoes of Rose's characters appear in many of the men, but the differences are substantial, translating McCarthy-era prejudices into present-day, post-Soviet terms, while also serving up an ironic statement about endemic corruption in the Putin era. 12 is not a panegyric to a laudable judicial system like the original (quite the opposite, in fact), but it is as genuine a reflection of the ethos of today's Russia as Lumet's classic was of 1950s America. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)