Starring: He Bing, Han Tongsheng, Qian Bo, Zhao Chunyang, Mi Tiezeng, Gao Dongping, Zhang Yongqiang Director: Xu Ang

    Cao Zhen

    caozhen0806@126.com

    SIDNEY LUMET’S staggering courtroom drama “12 Angry Men” is a classic. The 1957 hit is simply the story of 12 jurors deliberating whether an 18-year-old boy is guilty despite the seemingly open-and-shut nature of the case. With a brilliant script, Lumet successfully set the movie location mostly in one room yet managed to keep audience members awake through the use of intense dialogue.

    This week, “12 Citizens,” a surprising Chinese remake of the U.S. movie, is playing in theaters and has been the talk of the town in China, where jury trials don’t exist and civil discourse is not fully in play.

    In “12 Citizens,” a young man adopted by a wealthy family, is accused of murdering his poor biological father, who frequently asked for money from his rich son, igniting the public debate.

    A mock trial is held at a law university in Beijing to discuss the case and 12 men from different walks of life are selected to sit on the Western-style jury on the basis of reasonable doubt. A verdict by the “jury” must be unanimous, so the 12 men have intense debates and conflicts. During this process, one sees the revelation of people’s long-standing bias on different social classes in China and emotional preconceptions about the suspect, about the wealthy and the poor and also about society.

    Perhaps Lumet’s original is too timeless and highly thought of. The Chinese remake imitates the U.S. movie in many aspects, such as the mostly use of one set, some startling plot twists and even the use of weather to determine the atmosphere.

    But the characters in “12 Citizens” reflect distinctly contemporary Chinese features. With a wide range of personalities and occupations, the 12 jurors include a middle-aged real estate developer who is dating a college student, a divorced taxi driver with a bad temper, a retiree who still suffers from Cultural Revolution memories, a snobbish housing landlord who looks down on migrants and a security guard who dreams of attending university.

    During the debate, each character tries to hide their own weaknesses by lashing out at others. Later on, when some characters’ beliefs are changing, they begin to tell their own tragic life stories and use their jury duty as an opportunity to vent about the injustices they have experienced. It’s clear here that their previous thoughts on the case relate to their personal emotions and bias rather than facts and logic. The 12 men are portrayed stupendously by veteran stage actors, which helps captivate the audience.

    Xu Ang, the movie’s director, said in an earlier interview that the 12 characters were designed based on his observations in Beijing. “The diversity of these characters represents my personal understanding of China, or to be more specific, the city of Beijing. These 12 characters were inspired by people I have met. So, the discrimination, conflict and arguments in the film are probably real things I have experienced.”

    As an experiment, the movie plays like a textbook for Chinese audiences because there are no jury trials on the Chinese mainland. At the beginning of the movie, some jurors don’t realize their responsibilities, so the main character, the lone “not guilty” holdout Juror No. 8, repeatedly states that the jury is not about solving the crime but sees whether it has a reasonable doubt and whether they can prevent an innocent suspect from being sentenced to death.

    Juror No. 8, whose identity is revealed as a prosecutor at the very end of the movie, also tells the other 11 jurors that the significance of this mock debate is to encourage Chinese law school students to have a prudent attitude and use critical thinking in cases. Therefore, the movie is timely in view of some recent cases in which some old convictions in China were based on limited evidence.

    If you have seen the 1957 Lumet version, you may think this Chinese remake is too similar in plot, but it is definitely worth seeing because of its true depiction of contemporary Chinese social classes. Plus, some of the dialogue is humorous and satirical.

    The movie, in Mandarin with English subtitles, is now being screened in Shenzhen.