Freeze Frame #170: Twelve Angry Men

One of the most affecting scenes in Twelve Angry Men is one where one of the jurors goes on a rant about “these people”, and the others respond to it by simply getting up and walking away and turning their backs on him. The verbal response that comes at the end of the scene is effective precisely because of the non-verbal responses that precede it.

It’s impressive how loudly the silence speaks in this scene. It drowns out the actual speaker. But consider this: we, as viewers, hear the silence. But that is because the other jurors actively create it by turning away.

Period piece?

 

One response to “Freeze Frame #170: Twelve Angry Men”

  1. Your note about the impact of a verbal response rendered more profound by the silence en masse that precedes it, reminded me of a similarly evocative scene from ‘We were soldiers’ referenced here https://celluloidrant.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-1/

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