12 Page #2

Synopsis: A loose remake of 12 Angry Men (1957), set in a Russian school. 12 jurors are struggling to decide the fate of a Chechen teenager who allegedly killed his Russian stepfather who took the teenager to live with him in Moscow during the Chechen War in which teenager lost his parents. The jurors: a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and others represent the fragmented society of modern day Russia. A stray bird (a touch of New Age cinema) is flying above the jurors' heads, alluding to tolerance.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director(s): Nikita Mikhalkov
Production: Sony Pictures Classics
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.7
Metacritic:
72
Rotten Tomatoes:
76%
PG-13
Year:
2007
159 min
580 Views


I mean for our jury.

You seem to have some experience.

You should be our foreman...

The phone only connects

to the boiler room.

If nobody objects...

I'd be glad to.

So, no need to vote on it, then?

As you know, our decision

must be, and will be, final.

And not subject to appeal.

And so... Attention, please.

And so...

...our vote has got to be unanimous.

We know all that.

Let's just do it fast.

Make a unanimous decision...

and leave. I'm going on tour.

We can each make comments one by one.

Then we'll vote.

- No, let's vote.

- It's obvious.

- Let's vote now.

- No comments.

- Then nobody objects if...

- No, no.

So, we can...

...vote by the usual show of hands,

or by paper ballot.

- No, by hands.

- Right.

- Let's vote.

- So we'll vote by a show of hands?

- Yes, yes.

- Of course.

All in favor, please raise your hands.

One question.

"In favor" of what?

- What?

- "In favor" of guilty, or not guilty?

Guilty, of course.

I thought it was "in favor" of voting.

We're voting on whether he is guilty.

I didn't understand, that's all.

- He didn't know

- Put down your hands. Sorry.

That vote didn't count.

My fault. Sorry.

So... Put your hands down.

So we're voting...

...on whether the defendant is guilty.

A raised hand means guilty.

- Yes, yes.

- Guilty.

I just want to get it right.

Then raise your hand.

Don't you go to meetings?

What? All the time.

Workers of the world...

- Let's vote, come on.

- Yeah.

Why are we voting on "guilty" first?

What's the difference?

No, we can do this however we like.

Does it bother you?

No, I thought it might be a rule.

No, there's no rule about that.

Either way.

- Let's do it this way.

- For whether he's guilty.

OK. So we're voting on

whether the defendant is guilty.

- Yes.

- Hands up, please.

- Unanimous. We're out of here.

- No, wait.

Please. There are rules. Wait

Please take your seats.

Put your hands down.

Now, who thinks the defendant -

we have to follow rules...

...is not guilty, please raise your hand.

That's eleven...

- Here

- Eleven for guilty, one for not guilty.

Whoa!

What did we just vote on?

Did you hear that? Hello!

All that racket distracted the man.

We voted on whether that stinking

Chechen dog is guilty...

...of the murder of his adoptive father,

a Russian army officer.

Didn't understand?

The comrade didn't understand.

Start again.

- So let's vote again.

- No, no, I...

There's no need. I get it now.

I'm against.

Against convicting him.

What do you mean "against"?

You voted "for".

And I voted "against".

Why?

Well, it was eleven "for"...

...and one "against".

But why?

Why what?

Why did you vote that way?

Well, if I'd voted "for"

it would have been twelve "for" and...

...none "against".

And we'd all have gone home.

But that'd be good.

So why'd you vote "against"?

Vote "for" and let's go home.

I... It was too fast, somehow.

It was too fast, you see.

Fast? We listened to that judge talk

for 3 days. You call that fast?

No, well, yes, but...

It scared me.

We just put up our hands and...

...that was it. It was too fast.

Fast is good. It was obvious,

there was proof.

We all heard the witnesses.

We saw the evidence.

Well, yes.

But we're talking about a human being.

And we just put up our hands...

...and that was it.

What exactly do you want?

I want...

...well, to talk, at least.

To talk.

So talk.

"Beyond reasonable doubt. "

Sorry. That's a term

used in American jury trials.

"Beyond reasonable doubt".

It's just that, I studied at Harvard...

...I studied management.

And we had a course in law.

Talking would make sense

if there were reasonable doubt.

Did you hear that? Reasonable doubt.

We don't have any doubts

None. He killed him! It's a fact!

The brutal murder of an ex-officer

by his adopted son for a ridiculous sum.

- Yeah.

- Why talk?

That guy went to Harvard,

and he doesn't have any doubts.

- Neither do we. Do you?

- Do you?

Forgive me, please, and understand.

I know he went to Harvard.

Say you go to the market

and buy a watermelon.

- I do?

- No, no, I do.

I go to the market and buy a melon.

The salesman assures me

it's ripe and red, but...

...until I take it home...

...and cut it open,

it's very hard to know for sure if it is.

But this isn't a watermelon.

A watermelon you can just throw away.

This is a human being

facing a life sentence.

If we all vote yes,

they'll put him in prison forever.

And he'll never get out.

Do you understand? Ne-ver!

Just think about that word.

He'll never get out.

And he shouldn't.

He's a killer. What should he get?

A paid vacation to Thailand?

He should be grateful

they banned the death penalty.

Prison will put some sense into him.

All right.

All right.

Fine.

I don't want to keep you.

Let's vote again

and if I'm still the only one, I'll...

...vote with everyone else.

And let the boy's fate be what it will.

At least I'll know I tried

to do something for him.

That's an interesting move.

Essentially, you'll do

what everyone else does,

but you'll still be able to believe that

your hands are clean. Right?

Yes.

It looks that way.

But I request a secret ballot.

Why?

Honestly? To stall for time.

We have to get paper, pens.

That takes time.

Also, people often vote...

...just so they don't

stray from the group.

So I request that we vote

by secret ballot.

Secret or not, it's obvious

what the result will be.

So, we have a proposal for

a secret ballot

- Does everyone agree?

- Yeah.

- With these?

- Yes, take a ballot and a pencil or pen.

If we're ready to vote,

let's see if we're all here.

Wait...

Someone's missing.

That gentleman went to the bathroom.

I saw him.

- I saw him, honest.

- Why wait? Let's vote.

- He's an elderly man.

- Let's start.

He has to get there and pee,

maybe a bad prostate...

Then put all his equipment back in...

The ballot box. Let's vote.

I see you've done this before.

Yeah. Retirement's boring.

I sit at my dacha and paint watercolors.

Sometimes I serve on juries.

- You're an artist?

- No, not really.

I just paint watercolors as a hobby.

Has everyone turned in their ballot?

- Did you vote already?

- No, we were waiting for you.

"With birth and urination,

there's no procrastination".

Don't worry, I'll be fast.

What a great one-liner!

- Thank you.

- Sorry.

Well...

Let's count...

... shall we?

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Guilty".

"Not guilty".

"Guilty".

So, that's ten...

...for "guilty," and one against.

Two.

Two.

Two. For "not guilty".

What? Two?

Wait. That can't be.

Let me check those ballots.

There's no need.

No need to check anything.

I voted to find the young man

not guilty.

What?

that the kid is guilty.

At first it seemed clear.

- And now it doesn't?

- No, I can't say it's not clear.

But this man...

...proposed that I take responsibility

for his decision, as well.

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote

Nikita Mikhalkov

Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (Russian: Ники́та Серге́евич Михалко́в; born 21 October 1945) is a Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Three times Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1993,1995,1999). Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" Nikita Mikhalkov won the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival (1991) and nominated for the Academy Award (1993) in the category "Best Foreign Language Film" for the film "Close to Eden". Winner of the Academy Award (1995) in the category "Best Foreign Language Film" and the Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival (1994) for the film "Burnt by the Sun". Mikhalkov received the "Special Lion" of the Venice Film Festival (2007) for his contribution to the cinematography and nominated for the Academy Award (2008) in the category "Best Foreign Language Film" for the film "12". more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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