In Twelve Angry Men (1957), acclaimed as one of the best films dramatising the imperfections of the jury system, the fate of a teenager accused of the murder of his father rests on the verdict of 12 jurors locked inside a steamy jury room. The evidence seems overwhelming and 11 of the jurors are ready to convict in what they see as an ‘open and shut’ case. Only one brave juror (played by Henry Fonda) refuses to vote and wants to talk about the case. What follows is an intense examination of the prejudices that each juror member brings to the jury room.
Fonda’s character is the great unifier throughout the film seeking to dispel bias and faulty reasoning by demanding that his fellow jurors scrutinise the evidence carefully and come to a reasoned verdict. Critics of the jury system say that it works against justice
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