12 Angry Men was originally a play written in 1954 by Reginald Rose and was later adapted into a movie in 1957 starring Henry Fonda in 1957. The story opens on a jury that is already in the middle of deliberating a case involving a 19 year old teenage boy that is accused of killing his father with a switchblade. If the jury does not rule in his favor, he must face the electric chair. The judge has instructed the jury that a mandatory death penalty will follow a guilty verdict. All 12 jurors must vote unanimously.
There are twelve all white, male jurors. They are placed in a small, hot room after spending four days listening to testimony during the murder trial. None of these men can relate to the defendant due to their own personal biases. Throughout the story, they address each other based on their jury numbers.
As the jurors deliberate, tensions rise. Most of them think it is an easy case to decide. Without putting much thought into their decisions, they are willing to go with the circumstantial evidence presented at trial, and send a young man to his ultimate execution. The majority wants to rush into a decision because they believe the facts of the case to be obvious of the teenagers guilt. They ultimately rush to judgement without considering who the defendant is and what is the truth of the matter.
The jurors bring their own personal experiences and biases to the table which make coming to a unanimous decision very difficult. To most, the evidence appears to be overwhelming. But a closer inspection of the evidence gets way to reasonable doubt.
The thought provoking plot has the audience examine the prejudices, fear and ignorance we hold against one another as a society. These men represent a microcosm of our greater society. The American justice system as well as the defendant is on trial in this riveting story.
We begin to realize that these men are angry, fearful and culturally bias and their views are tainting the outcome of the trial. Juror 8 knows that the others may in fact carry out a miscarriage of justice if he doesn’t convince them to see past their views. He stands up for the defendant and encourages the others to take a closer look at the facts of the case.
The first vote among the jurors does not have a favorable result for the defendant. Eleven vote guilty. But juror number 8 stands his ground that the evidence is not strong enough to lead to a guilty verdict. And slowly he convinces the others to change their vote.
12 Angry Men examines the American Justice system through the narrow views of jurors that are a cross section of our society. But the persistence of one man who stood up for a fair and just system ultimately saved a life. This story is a thought provoking account of the racial and legal injustices faced by those marginalized by a system that is not always fair and just.
Many p2p movie downloads have viruses, spyware or other problems. Download Full Movies It’s great to download movies to your laptop so you always have them with you wherever you go. Many websites that allow you to download movies for free may contain malware or viruses so it’s important to use caution when using those websites.
