Twelve Citizens is an adaptation of the 1957 American film Twelve Angry Men, a crime mystery film produced by Beijing Juben Media, directed by Xu Ang, and co-starring He Bing, Han Tongsheng, Qian Bo and Zhao Longhao.
The film tells the story of a rich second-generation "murder case" in contemporary China that triggered the most intense court battle.
Jury No. 1: responsible for presiding over the meeting, young age, social experience is not rich, sometimes can not hold the scene personnel, but the perspective of the problem is more rational, so after overturning the existing evidence before casting the prisoner's not guilty vote.
Jury No. 2: Round face with eyes, highly educated, smiling tiger, superficially thick and gentle, not much to say and not argue, just want to go with the flow, not to offend people, not to be angered, the incident is quickly resolved, but involving their own mathematical problems and rigorous arguments, according to the professional assumptions cast the prisoner's innocence vote.
No. 3 jury: taxi driver, juror for his sister, shorts yellow half sleeves, grumpy, low-level people, and family relations are not good, not understood, emotions have nowhere to release, especially the father-son relationship, always mention filial piety, father-son relationship, so according to the existing evidence blindly determine that the prisoner is guilty, put his own emotions into the case, irrational, the last moment to release their emotions, but also the drama of the greater contradiction conflict point.
Jury No. 4: A wealthy businessman wearing glasses and a suit, relatively calm, after being questioned by people at the bottom of society, repeatedly mentioned the issue of respect and hatred of the rich, and judged the prisoner guilty according to witness testimony, but after being overturned by the No. 8 jury, he changed to the innocence of the prisoner.
Jury No. 5: Dressed in black, with tattoos, with a temper mixed with the underworld, he was unjustly imprisoned, did not speak much, and began to vote guilty, but was persuaded by the No. 8 jury, and because of empathy, he did not want an innocent person to be wrongfully imprisoned.
Jury No. 6: A professional doctor, wearing a shirt and looking kind, out of respect for life, decided to carefully analyze the case with juror No. 8 and vote for the innocence of the prisoner based on the strong facts.
Jury No. 7: The owner of the school shop with a straw hat, who was unwilling to participate in this jury, was forced by the pressure of life to agree to the participation of the school teacher, in order to live the children often sold smiling faces, listened to people, and were hostile to the rich, so at first voted guilty, and then changed to the prisoner's innocent vote.
Jury No. 8: The first mao dun conflict point of this film, but also the beginning of the reversal of events, from the beginning firmly to find the truth of the incident as the only goal, so the beginning when 11 people voted guilty, only he insisted on the not guilty vote, he advocated that a person's life and death can not be judged because of prejudice or lack of attention or when there is a loophole in insufficient evidence, should be responsible, for themselves, for others, there is a citizen should have the right and obligation, a sense of justice, rationality, can bend the positive prosecutor image.
Jury No. 9: An elderly man dressed simply, who had suffered from revolutionary problems, was given hope when he was desperate, so he did not want to let a young man lose hope and life in life because of the fact of inadequacy, life was full of changes, cold and warm self-knowledge, so he became the first person to support the No. 8 jury, and also speculated on the witnesses' own loopholes in the old man and young woman with his own life experience.
Jury No. 10: Middle-aged people wearing old Beijing coats, in line with the principle of looking at things are not too big, always interrupt others to speak, discriminate against the region, and typical of the personality characteristics of the city citizens, love to make trouble, talk irresponsible, but love children, but also by everyone's words, and finally cast the prisoner's not guilty vote.
Jury No. 11: The security guard of the University of Political Science and Law, but once had a dream to enter the University of Political Science and Law, had ideals and bowed to reality, but did not inferiority, also did express delivery work, cast the innocent vote is also mixed with the gambling of other jurors, but also has a reverence for justice.
Jury No. 12: Speaking a Tianjin dialect, occasionally interjecting two sentences, believing that the witness's words are not wrong, the position is not firm, and the character of swaying left and right, but was persuaded by the No. 8 jury, and finally voted not guilty.
There are no grand scenes in this film, but the 12 people in the play perform 12 character personalities, characteristics, vivid colors, all have their own stories, layer by layer to express the inner characters.
But the whole film has no ups and downs, it looks logical, after a Mao Dun conflict point can think of the order of development of things, no novelty, the rhythm is smooth, this is a dialogue between all levels of society, all professions, pride and prejudice, respect and discrimination, but also reflects the importance of fairness and justice, as the rights and obligations of citizens.