More Compelling Than Fiction: Behind the Story of "12"

Note: Only the introductory paragraph and historical contextualization for "12," in-text citations to be included in the final draft:

12. What can be said about this film?

I have not personally seen the original play from which it is adapted, Twelve Angry Men, nor the classic cinema masterpiece by Sindey Lumet, but I walked away from 12 convinced that its predecessors, as good as it may be, cannot possibly be as good as this masterpiece of cinema.

The power of this film is apparent in the reaction that audiences had to it after its screenings. It was shown at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. The director, Nikita Mikhalkov, received the “Special Lion for Overall Work” award for its “consistent brilliance.” 12 was later nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Former Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, and Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov viewed the film together. Putin remarked afterward that the film had moved him. Indeed, he is not alone in his reaction.

The historical setting of the film has just as poignant a story. The film deals with the Chechen-Russian conflict of the last decade, a conflict that was still in progress at the time of the film’s production and release. Chechnya, a region populated by the minority group for which it is named, had been struggling since the fall of the Soviet Union to gain independence and sovereignty. The first conflict lasted from 1994 until 1996, with tens of thousands of civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of displaced Chechens.

The second conflict lasted from 1999 until 2009. Again, tens of thousands of Chechens were killed or displaced. This second conflict began when the Russians overthrew the capital, Grozny, during the winter of 2000. Open warfare carried on for the better part of a year. The organized Russian forces took control of the city and remained an occupation force in the streets. Chechen resistance continued, though it relied upon guerrilla and terrorist tactics to fight off the invading Russian army. These actions are reflected in the fighting scenes of 12, with the tanks in the streets, the bodies lying in the roads, and the dog carrying a dismembered hand in its mouth.

Regardless of which side of the conflict is, or was, right, this powerful and compelling struggle for freedom by the Chechens and the Russian disdain for what they perceived to be a lower-class culture provides an elaborate and moving backdrop for the story that ultimately hinges on the acceptance by the jurors of an alternative perspective to conflict resolution.