1 2 (Russian)
The Story:
A loose remake of 12 Angry Men (1957), set in a Russian school in the war-torn republic of Chechnya.
A Chechen youth (Apti Magamaev) stands accused of stabbing to death his adoptive father, a Russian special forces officer, who rescued the boy after his parents were killed in the fighting, and brought him back to live with him in his Moscow apartment.
12 jurors, all male, retire to an improvised jury room set up in a school gymnasium. The jurors begin to argue, to talk, to reveal more about themselves and gradually, as darkness falls and snow settles in the streets outside, reexamine and even physically rehearse the evidence.
The jurors include a chauvinist anti-Semitic taxi-driver (Sergei Garmash); a charming old Jewish gentleman (Valentin Gaft); a neurotic variety show performer (Michail Efremov); a scientist with a tragic past (Sergei Makovetsky); a successful surgeon, who is himself from the Caucasus (Sergei Gazarov); and an entrepreneur and owner of cable television stations (Yuri Stoyanov), who is so indecisive that he has to be reminded of the last way he voted.
What gradually emerges from their deliberations is a panoramic view of Russia today, with its disappointments, multiple ills, corruption, violent internecine struggles, black humor, sentimentality and enduring hopes.
Starring:
Sergey Makovetsky, Valentin Gaft, Alexey Petrenko, Mikhail Efremov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Apti Magamayev, Sergey Garmash, Yuri Stoyanov, Sergei Gazarov.
Directed By:
Nikita Mikhalkov
Release:
2007
Watch the Trailer:
