Nikita Mikhalkov's 12

Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, 12 is a gripping and very thoughtful film that has much to say. The film, made is Russia, is based on the Sidney Lumet’s directorial debut, “12 Angry Men” and also from Reginald Rose’s CBS teleplay of the same name. Mikhalkov, who also is an actor in the film, received an Academy Award nomination for the film in 2008 for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film begins by following a person running down a flight of stairs. The Camera is close up on the feet. The film then cuts to a statement which says, “Seek the truth not in the mundane details of daily life but in the essence of life itself.”

Shortly later, the film then cuts to the court room where the judge is telling the jury that the must now deliberate and come to a guilty or not-guilty vote which must be unanimous. The case is about a young eighteen-year-old Chechen boy who is accused of murdering his step father. The bailiff then takes them to a school gym where there is a table set up. This is due to the renovations that is happening at the court house. The Bailiff then tells them that this will only take twenty minutes. Clearly, everyone thinks that the young boy is guilty. The Jurors sit at the table and joke and talk. We find out here about what they do. One is a comic, a TV producer, a cab driver, a surgeon, a holocaust survivor, and so on.

When they finally get down to business, an older guy, played by Mikhalkov, acts as the foreman and they raise their hands to vote on guilty or not-guilty. Mikhalkov starts by asking the group to raise their hands if they think the boy is guilty. Eleven of the twelve raise their hands. The group is puzzled that the engineer did not raise his hand and they ask him why. He simply tells them that this was to fast and he wants to talk about it.

From this point on, each of the twelve members goes on and talks about some event, good or bad, that has happened in their life. These stories eventually change their verdicts from guilty to not guilty. These stories include stories about alcoholism and redemption, one of the juror’s father winning the love of a Nazi SS officer’s wife. Also, one of the jurors, who is a transit worker, tells a story about how his uncle improvised a hostage crisis.

Eventually, the jury decides that the boy did not murder his step father. In doing so, they uncover that a giant company was behind the murder of the boy’s step father and they set him up. They did this because they were building expensive condos next to the building where they lived and the step father refused to leave.

The film deals with a lot of themes. These themes range from anti-semitism, tolerance, corruption, the faults of the justice system, and war. In the movie, the cab driver makes anti-semitic remarks to the older Jewish man because he votes to acquit on the second vote. In the movie, about halfway through, a bird enters the gym. This bird symbolizes tolerance in the film. Also, another theme is the faultiness of the justice system which could send a person not guilty of a crime to jail for the rest of his life. Lastly, the film touches upon the them of war and the cruelty and pointlessness of the war. This is shown in flashbacks the boy has of his life in Chechnya and the tragedy and horror he suffered when the war broke out there.

12 is a very engaging film. it takes place mostly in the gym. However, it does cut to flashbacks of the boy’s life in Chechnya. The cinematography is great in the film and captures the grittiest of a war-torn Chechnya. The music is the film is also well made. It is very solemn and adds a great deal to the tone of the film. The acting is the film’s strongest point. Most of the actors in the film, come from theatrical backgrounds. This shows a great deal as they use the gym like it is a stage. Furthermore, the actors bring real emotion and life to their characters as they each tell their personal and heartfelt stories. Lastly, the direction is very good by Nikita Mikhalkov. He uses a lot of blocked camera moves and allows his actors to play to the camera like it is the audience right there in the room with them.

Overall, 12 is a film worthy of its oscar nomination and is a film that should be seen for its wonderful acting, direction, and dialogue.

Le Femme Nikita

Directed by Luc Besson, Le Femme Nikita tells the story of a drug addict who becomes an assassin for the French government. The movie opens with the robbery of a pharmacy by a group of junkies. Among the group is Nikita, a teenage delinquent and a drug addict. The pharmacy is owned by the one of the guys in the group father. Police come and a shootout between the junkies and the cops ensue. The Cops kills all the guys except for Nikita who shoots a cop. Nikita is arrested and sentenced to death. She is executed by injection only to wake up in a room that is painted in all white.

An agent, Bob, enters the cell and tells her that she is dead. He gives her an ultimatum of sorts to work for the government as an assassin or they will return her to the ground. She accepts and they train her. Over this time, Nikita and Bob develop a sort of father-daughter relationship as he falls for her.

Nikita eventually graduates after her she is put to test an kills a diplomat in a restaurant crowded with people and it sent out into the world to do tasks when called upon. She meets a guy who works at a supermarket and they fall in love but she never reveals to him her real job.

After a while, tasks start coming in for her to do. They go well for the most part. The best one I would say is when Nikita has to shoot a kill a man from a hotel room while her boyfriend talks to her from outside the door.

At the end of the film, Nikita is given an assignment to steal a very important document from an embassy and it goes well. During the escape, The Cleaner, played by the great Jean Reno, is killed. The film ends with Nikita taking off and leaving everyone.

The film seems to be influenced by the theme of right and wrong. In the film, Nikita does wrong several times such as her petty life of crime, drugs, and shooting the police officer because she needed her fix. On the other hand, The French government wasn’t in the right too as they pretty much forced her to become a murderer for their dirty deeds. Also, the film touched upon relationship issues. For instance, Nikita hides her real occupation and lies to her boyfriend to cover it up.

The film is very stylish and violent. The music in the film has a sort of techno vibe. The film plot was very engrossing as it keeps the audience wanting to know what is going to Nikita. Is she going to live? is she going to get killed? The acting in the film was very well down. Anne Parillaud, who played Nikita, did very well playing a lost soul who goes from a wacked-out druggie to a more refined and mature person at the end of the film. The editing is very fast paced and the cinematography is done pretty well from the blue tint and neon used in the pharmacy shootout in the beginning to showing the beauty of Venice, Italy. Overall, Le Femme Nikita is an action-