12 (2007)

Twelve jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen adolescent charged with murdering his stepfather.

Director:

Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers:

Nikita Mikhalkov, Aleksandr Novototskiy-Vlasov

Stars:

Sergey Makovetskiy, Sergey Garmash, Apti Magamaev

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sergey Makovetskiy	...	1-y prisyazhnyy
Nikita Mikhalkov	...	2-y prisyazhnyy
Sergey Garmash	...	3-y prisyazhnyy
Valentin Gaft	...	4-y prisyazhnyy
Aleksey Petrenko	...	5-y prisyazhnyy
Yuriy Stoyanov	...	6-y prisyazhnyy
Sergey Gazarov	...	7-y prisyazhnyy
Mikhail Efremov	...	8-y prisyazhnyy
Aleksey Gorbunov	...	9-y prisyazhnyy
Sergey Artsibashev	...	10-y prisyazhnyy
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	11-y prisyazhnyy
Roman Madyanov	...	12-y prisyazhnyy
Aleksandr Adabashyan	...	Pristav
Apti Magamaev	...	Malchik
Abdi Magamaev	...	Malenkiy chechenets

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

stepfather | bird | chechen war | school | russia | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violent images, disturbing content, thematic material, brief sexual and drug references, and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Kinovista [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian Chechen

Release Date:

20 September 2007 (Russia)

Also Known As:

12 razgnevannyh muzhchin

Filming Locations:

Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

RUR 43,112,631 (Russia), 23 September 2007, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,042, 8 March 2009, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$125,120

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,537,453

Company Credits

Production Co:

Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, Studio Trite, Three T Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

159 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie has an epigraph ("Don't look here for the truth of everyday life, but try to feel the truth of being") and an epilogue ("The law comes before everything, but what's to be done if the mercy comes before the law?"). Both are quotations from one B. Tosia. Most probably, he (or she) never lived and is the fictional alter ego of Nikita Mikhalkov.

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Goofs

"Ernest Emerson" is a manufacturer of knives from the USA. However their model, CQC7, is not like the knife on the film. Emerson knives are folding knives.

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Quotes

2-y prisyazhnyy: So, we're voting on whether the defendant is guilty. Hands up, please.

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Connections

Version of Shi'er gongmin (2014)

User Reviews

Not a remake, but an investigation into today's Russia

Sure, it is difficult and will be difficult for all those who have seen Sidney Lumet's Twelve angry men to avoid recalling part of that wonderful movie where, like in this, we move between great characters and excellent actors to investigate about the meaning of personal involvement in the life of a community.

However, apart from the similar elements that we'll find, this movie achieves, as only a few films have done, to investigate the mechanisms of the current Russian society from the inside. Michalkov is greatly helped in this task not only by an excellent scenario and direction but also by a cast of actors that achieves perfection (including himself as the president of the jury).

The picture of the Russia of today is not optimistic (I would be tempted to say that rarely this has been the case in Russian history), and what appears clear is the capacity of the Russian people, that also emerge from the Russian literature and opera, to struggle and survive in the middle of chaos and brutality. If there is hope, it is in the tenacity of the individuals to be committed to fight...but when will this fight come to a (positive) end?