12 (Tuesday, August 11, 2009) (109)

This is a remake by Nikita Mikhalkov of Twelve Angry Men. This time the kid who is accused of murder is a Chechen boy who was adopted by an ex-Russian general after he had fought in the region. When the man is found dead, the mountain of evidence against the kid on top of the fact that Russians mistrust Chechens across the board, seem to make the kid's odds of acquittal look dim. It's only after these twelve men discuss the situation for awhile that the truth comes out about the boy's innocence.

This is a nice movie with interesting characters and sharp dialogue. It is a bit of a mystery why this was made, as I don't think this totally improves upon or updates the original story or movie. It does move it from the Bronx to Moscow, however that's the only real difference.

Each character represents a different modern Russian archetype - there's the Western-educated media mogul, the Jew, the post-Soviet partisan, the young gadfly, the ex-soldier. They each play off one another very well here. The dialogue moves along very well and is pretty clever. The setting, as in the original is a modest room where the men walk around as they discuss. Overall the acting is really wonderful here.

Still, the film is much, much too long - at 2 hours and 40 minutes. Length is a silly criticism, I'm aware, but here it smacks you in the face. Nothing more is gained from having each man talk for a long time, and if the long monologues were each cut by even four minutes, it would be a big help.

There is an interesting view into the modern Russian psyche about how they see Chechens as low-level animals (clearly the director does not agree with this) and it is interesting to see this idea challenged. I would have liked a bit more analysis of the Chechen issue and even an examination of the war itself. All we get is the Chechen standing in as a character for the American Black or Latin.

This movie is not as good as Mikhalkov's earlier efforts, like Burnt By the Sun, but it is nice.

Stars: 2.5 of 4