12 (2007)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers:

Nikita Mikhalkov (writer) &
Aleksandr Novototsky (writer) ...

Release Date:

20 September 2007 (Russia)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller | War

Plot:

12 jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen teenager charged with murdering his stepfather.

Plot Keywords:

Stepfather | Chechnya | Bird | School | Caucasus

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Sergei Makovetsky	...	Juror #1
Nikita Mikhalkov	...	Juror #2
Sergey Garmash	...	Juror #3
Valentin Gaft	...	Juror #4
Aleksei Petrenko	...	Juror #5
Yuriy Stoyanov	...	Juror #6
Sergey Gazarov	...	Juror #7
Mikhail Efremov	...	Juror #8
Aleksey Gorbunov	...	Juror #9
Sergei Artsybashev	...	Juror #10
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Juror #11
Roman Madyanov	...	Juror #12
Aleksandr Adabashyan	...	Bailiff
Apti Magamaev	...	The Boy
Abdi Magamayev	...	Little Chechen

Also Known As:

12 razgnevannyh muzhchin (Russia) (working title)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

159 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian | Chechen

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Taiwan:R-12 | Netherlands:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia)

Filming Locations:

Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Studio Trite

Trivia:

Russia's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

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?