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

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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

Spoofed in Samyy luchshiy film 2 (2009)

User Reviews

Jury plays god to a man, Mikhalkov plays god to a jury

The movie is bipolar. The upsides: great performances by many great actors; a view that the movie provides into the minds of contemporary Russians; and watching 12 post-post-Soviet (yet born and raised Soviet) people engaged in the a very Western activity, where their universal human feelings are intermixed with ways of thinking and arguing that are skewed by the history and problems of Russian society. Having characters give monologues in a single-room setting works very well for the theatrically-trained actors. Also, the discussion of society's problems and human responsibilities is refreshingly serious, in a big contrast to most post-Soviet expression, which tends to be extremely cynical (as argued quiet well by Efremov's character).

Downsides: certain characters are shallow caricatures clearly used to express Mikhalkov's personal tastes; way too many stretches in the plot; and the ending/punchline. Mikhalkov turns everything on its head in the end, very unconvincingly trying to argue that "freedom is slavery" and negating any civic benefit that the movie could have. This argument is basically a restatement of his political goals, most recently expressed off-screen by an open letter to Putin in the name of "all Russian artists" begging him to stay another term. Ironically, the argument is presented so weakly and crudely that Mikhalkov ends up shooting himself in a foot.