12 | |
---|---|
Directed by | Nikita Mikhalkov |
Screenplay by | Nikita Mikhalkov Alexander Novototsky-Vlasov Vladimir Moiseenko |
Based on | 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose |
Produced by | Nikita Mikhalkov Leonid Vereschtchaguine |
Starring | Sergei Makovetsky Nikita Mikhalkov Sergei Garmash Valentin Gaft Alexei Petrenko Yuri Stoyanov |
Cinematography | Vladislav Opelyants |
Edited by | Enzo Meniconi Andrei Zaytsev |
Music by | Eduard Artemyev |
Distributed by | TriTe |
Release dates |
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Running time | 159 minutes |
Country | Russia |
Languages | Russian, Chechen |
Budget | $2.5 million |
Box office | $7.5 million |
12 is a 2007 Russian legal drama film by director, screenwriter, producer and actor Nikita Mikhalkov. The film is a Russian-language remake of Sidney Lumet's 1957 film 12 Angry Men , which in turn was based on Reginald Rose's 1955 stage play, Twelve Angry Men , itself based on Rose's 1954 teleplay of the latter's same name.
Mikhalkov was awarded the Special Lion at the 64th Venice International Film Festival for his work on the film, which also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. [1] It received generally positive reviews from critics.
A 12-men jury decides whether a young Chechen boy is guilty of murdering his stepfather, a Russian military officer. Initially, it seems that the boy was the murderer. However, one of the jurors votes in favour of acquittal. Since the verdict must be rendered unanimously, the jurors review the case, and one by one come to the conclusion that the boy was framed. The murder was performed by criminals involved in the construction business. The discussion is repeatedly interrupted by flashbacks from the boy's wartime childhood.
In the end, the foreman states that he was sure the boy did not commit the crime, but he will not vote in favour of acquittal since the acquitted boy will be subsequently killed by the same criminals. Additionally, the foreman reveals that he is a former intelligence officer. After a brief argument, the foreman agrees to join the majority. Later, the foreman tells the boy that he will find the real murderers.
The movie received generally positive critical opinion in Russia and abroad. 12 has an approval rating of 77% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 60 reviews, and an average rating of 6.88/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Loosely based on 1957's 12 Angry Men , Nikita Mikhalkov's superbly acted 12 is clever and gripping like its predecessor, but with a distinctly Russian feel". [2] It also has a score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [3]
Russian president Vladimir Putin together with the film crew, Chechnya's president Ramzan Kadyrov and Ingushetia's president Murat Zyazikov watched the film in Putin's residence in Novo-Ogarevo; after the screening Putin remarked that the film "brought a tear to the eye". [4] Opposition journalist Zoya Svetova labeled the film as pro-Putin, assuming that some of the characters are caricatures of Russian opposition politicians Valeriya Novodvorskaya and Mikhail Khodorkovsky as well as producer Dmitry Lesnevsky. [5]
12 received a special Golden Lion for the "consistent brilliance" of its work and was praised by many critics at the 64th Venice International Film Festival. The Venice jury defined the movie as "confirmation of his [Mikhalkov's] mastery in exploring and revealing to us, with great humanity and emotion, the complexity of existence". [1] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. [6]
12 Angry Men is a 1957 American independent legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt; disagreement and conflict among them force the jurors to question their morals and values. It stars Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Warden.
Akhmed Halidovich Zakayev is a Chechen statesman, political and military figure of the unrecognised Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). Having previously been a Deputy Prime Minister, he now serves as Prime Minister of the ChRI government-in-exile. He was also the Foreign Minister of the Ichkerian government, appointed by Aslan Maskhadov shortly after his 1997 election, and again in 2006 by Abdul Halim Sadulayev. An active participant in the Russian-Chechen wars, Zakayev took part in the battles for Grozny and the defense of Goyskoye, along with other military operations, as well as in high-level negotiations with the Russian side.
The Second Chechen War took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from August 1999 to April 2009.
In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the Invasion of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War. The handling of the crisis by Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.
Zelimkhan Abdulmuslimovich Yandarbiyev was a writer and politician from Chechnya, who served as acting president of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria between 1996 and 1997. In 2004, Yandarbiyev was assassinated while in exile in Qatar.
Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov is a Russian politician and current Head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated to the Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the separatist-appointed mufti of Chechnya. He is a colonel general in the Russian military.
Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation and is a Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya was an American-Russian journalist and human rights activist, who reported on political and social events in Russia, in particular, the Second Chechen War (1999–2005).
Burnt by the Sun is a 1994 Russian drama film directed, written, produced and starring by Nikita Mikhalkov and co-written by Azerbaijani screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov. The film depicts the story of a senior Red Army officer, played by Mikhalkov, and his family during the Great Purge of the late 1930s in the Stalinist Soviet Union. While on vacation with his wife, young daughter, and assorted friends and family, things change dramatically for Colonel Kotov when his wife's old lover, Dmitri, shows up after being away for many years. The film also stars Oleg Menshikov, Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė and Mikhalkov's daughter Nadezhda Mikhalkova.
The 141st Special Motorized Regiment, also known as the Kadyrovites, Kadyrovtsy and the Akhmat special forces unit, is a paramilitary organization in Chechnya, Russia, that serves as the protection of the Head of the Chechen Republic. The term Kadyrovtsy is commonly used in Chechnya to refer to any armed, ethnically-Chechen men under the control of Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. As of 2023, the regiment's official commander was Adam Delimkhanov, a close ally of Kadyrov.
Sergei Nikolayevich Yushenkov was a liberal Russian politician. He was assassinated on 17 April 2003, just hours after registering his political party to participate in the December 2003 parliamentary elections.
Alexandra is a 2007 Russian film about the Second Chechen War, written and directed by Alexander Sokurov. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Urga is a 1991 Russian adventure drama film by Russian director, screenwriter and producer Nikita Mikhalkov. It was released in North America as Close to Eden. It depicts the friendship between a Russian truck driver and a Mongolian shepherd in Inner Mongolia.
Twelve Angry Men is a play by Reginald Rose adapted from his 1954 teleplay of the same title for the CBS Studio One anthology television series. Staged first in San Francisco in 1955, the Broadway debut came 50 years after CBS aired the play, on October 28, 2004, by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 328 performances.
Events from the year 2003 in Russia.
Events from the year 2004 in Russia.
Twelve Angry Men is an American courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose concerning the jury of a homicide trial. It was broadcast initially as a television play in 1954. The following year it was adapted for the stage. It was adapted for a film of the same name, directed by Sidney Lumet, and released in 1957. Since then it has been given numerous remakes, adaptations, and tributes.
Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus is a 2010 Russian drama film directed, written, produced by and starring Nikita Mikhalkov, released on 22 April 2010. It is the sequel to Mikhalkov's 1994 film Burnt by the Sun, set in the Eastern Front of World War II. Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus had the largest production budget ever seen in Russian cinema, but it turned out to be Russia's biggest box office flop, and received negative reviews from critics both in Russia and abroad.
An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano is a 1977 Soviet drama film directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, who also co-stars. It is based on Anton Chekhov's Platonov, as well as several of his other short stories. It was filmed at Pushchino-Na-Oke, Pushchino, Russia, which was dilapidated in the film and is now abandoned.