FILM CRITICISM

In the End, No One Drew the Knife

12 Angry Men (1957, dir. Sidney Lumet)

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Thus the jury, which is the most energetic means of making the people rule, is also the most efficacious means of teaching it to rule well. — De la démocratie en Amérique

Still from 12 Angry Men (1957) © United Artists

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I found myself focusing on the film’s positive side. Perhaps because, to begin with, I expect so little from humanity. By sheer accident, a species of hairless apes evolved exceptional intelligence, and somehow managed to fight one another with words and persuasion rather than knives and fists until the very end. That alone seemed almost worthy of praise — a cynical perspective, perhaps. Even the constant pressure, irritation, and coercion that run throughout the film struck me not as the failure of democracy, but simply as “that’s just what people are like.” Human beings are hardly creatures worth placing much faith in, yet procedures can still function despite that. In that sense, perhaps it could even be called a rather Hobbesian perspective.

People often focus on Juror №8’s rationality. I, however, pay more attention to the power of the institution itself to constrain human beings than to Juror №8 as an individual. The film’s jurors are hardly ideal citizens. They are a collection of flawed…