12 Angry Men: The Oppressed Morals of Men – Editorial

Premise: 12 Angry Men is a movie about a jury of 12 men who have to decide if a slum kid is guilty of killing his father or not. Jury system works a little different. In the Indian justice system, we don’t have a Jury (anymore). A jury consists of 12 (usually) upstanding citizens who will hear out the case from both sides and unanimously should declare if the defendant (the slum kid) is guilty or not. 

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Finding him guilty means the kid who is accused of planning and killing his father will be sent to the electric chair. The entire movie takes place inside the four walls, but the dialogue of men is so captivating you won’t miss the outside world. At first, the case was obvious, the kid had the motivation, and a huge pile of evidence against him denoting that he’s guilty. One man asks that they discuss the case before they send a kid to death based on prejudice.

Analysis: You won’t remember any of the names of the characters in the movie. But, still, 12 Angry Men showcases how we are driven by prejudice in this ill-informed world and stirs something inside us that makes us think about. All the men start off seeming ‘upstanding’ citizens with clear heads. But as the movie advances, we get to see that one man is rushing the process, so he can go watch a Baseball game. One man has it against the immigrants from the get-go. One has a thing about slum kids being the garbage of the world, another thinks any kid who wanders off the rules should be punished no matter the consequences. All are grown-up men holding respectable positions in society. It all seems so simple, and as they re-examine the case because of a persistent colleague. Their alter egos takeover showing off their ideologies that are the core of every person that they cover with their dazzling and wicked smiles.

Keep in mind that I’m not saying that they are not decent men. Decent is a relative word in the modern world. For most of human history, we’ve done nothing but horrible things to each other in the name of war, power, lust and just. Even for the old angry men, the kid got a fair trial like everybody else. But, he paid no attention to how much truth the mound of evidence holds. It’s like me saying that a citizen of a certain country wants nothing but harm to my country’s interests. Because we are unknowingly brainwashed into thinking that exact thing by the political powers which always want to stay at power.

Another man of the jury was born and raised in a slum. He’s in a respectable position now and he was also convinced that the kid murdered his father for hitting him. It takes some time and courage for him to give reasonable doubt to the kid who might’ve got stuck in this case without any fault of his own. All it took was honest dialogues between some men to stop a kid from getting a chair for a crime he might not have committed when the whole world screams otherwise.

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Conclusion: Men are complicated. Running the world (till 21st century mostly) for so long made them arrogant. They won’t listen to reason sometimes blinded by the prejudice and ego amongst other things. 12 Angry Men is the perfect example to show how little insight over the things can make them decide better, do better and finally be a little better. All humans are born in a dark cave without any knowledge as babies. It’s up to us if we want to get out of the cave or just carve a little window and stay inside the cave.

Streaming Platform: Available for Rent on Amazon