Introduction

                                    Welcome to Stuart Fernie’s Blog

Please scroll down or find on the right links to articles, pages of reflections on films and books, and occasional pieces of short fiction.

Articles include discussion of "12 Angry Men" (1957), "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2009), "American Gigolo"(1980), "Ace in the Hole", "Suite Française", elements of a good lesson (secondary level), "Sweeney Todd", "The Yakuza", using film and song in the modern languages classroom, "The Dirty Dozen", "Megalopolis", Critical Thinking, "the relationship between an artist, a work of art and the consumer of a work of art", "respect, self-perception and self-healing", "Sicario" (2015), Steve McQueen, "Dracula entre l'amour et la mort" (the French-Canadian musical), science-fiction films, films about teaching, "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958), "The Invention of Lying", the Arts, the James Bond films, "Sweet Smell of Success", "Rollerball" (1975 and 2002), "The Professionals" (1966), "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The Name of the Rose", "The Man who would be King", "Mr. Holmes" (2015), "The Last Samurai", "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), "The Sand Pebbles", "Forrest Gump", "Gran Torino", "Gangs of New York", "Emperor of the North", "Five Easy Pieces", "Chinatown", "Casablanca", Blade Runner", "The Big Red One", early Luc Besson films, "Being There", "An Inspector Calls", "La Belle et la Bête", "The Searchers", "The Mission", "High Plains Drifter", "Nuremberg" (2025), "Prime Cut", the influence of existentialism in society today, anxiety, professional criteria and essential attributes in teaching, professionalism versus careerism, thoughts on the meaning of "success" and "worth", "Hobson's Choice", "Quai des Orfèvres", "Le Corbeau", "The Wages of Fear", advice and questions to assist in the writing of essays about films, thoughts on Proportion and Self-respect, "The Offence", "Trainspotting", "Three Days of the Condor", "Spotlight", "Good Night and Good Luck", "The Count of Monte Cristo" (French version, 2024), "Midnight Express", Jason Bourne, Advocating Arts and Humanities, "Heaven's Gate", "Civil War", "The Ghost and Mrs Muir", "Ad Astra", Duality in 19th century literature, "Living", "Hell in the Pacific", "Point Blank", "Vera Cruz", "Dr Strange in the Multiverse", my interpretation of "Il faut cultiver notre jardin", "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources", "Drive my car", "The Batman", the place of acting in society, thoughts about religion and fate, "The Banshees of Inisherin", "Full Metal Jacket", "The Bishop's Wife", "Moliere", "Les Fleurs du Mal", "Soylent Green", "Bad Day at Black Rock", "The First Great Train Robbery", The Dreyfus Affair, "Persona", "The Seventh Seal", "A Clockwork Orange", "Night Moves", "Lonely are the Brave", "In the heat of the night", "The League of Gentlemen" (1960), thoughts on the nature of film noir, "Star Trek", "Seven Days in May", "Dead Poets Society", "Good Will Hunting", "Callan", "The Hill", "Cool Hand Luke", "The Hustler", "Road to Perdition", "The Verdict", "Three Colour Trilogy", "Jojo Rabbit", "Jeremiah Johnson", "Collateral", "Joker", "Barry Lyndon", "The Bridge at Remagen", "Le Mans '66 (Ford v Ferrari)", Charles Foster Kane ("Citizen Kane"), "The Deer Hunter", "Highlander", "No Country for Old Men", "Gattaca", "The Adventures of Robin Hood"(1938), "Apocalypse Now", "Spartacus", "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Long Good Friday", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", "The Third Man", "Finding Forrester", "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "Untouchable" (2011),"Unforgiven", "The Manchurian Candidate", "The Wild Bunch", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "Papillon" (1973), "Public Eye", "Existentialism in society today", "Seven Samurai", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Don Quixote", "We're No Angels", "The African Queen", "Babette's Feast", "War for the Planet of the Apes", "Dunkirk", “Dances With Wolves”, “Inherit The Wind” and “The Prisoner”. 

A link to my YouTube channel with video presentations of a number of my pages.

After I retired from teaching, I thought I’d write my memoirs, “What have I done?”, and present them online. Please find links to these memoirs, some French support pages and reflections on "Les Misérables" below.

I can be contacted through the comments sections or at stuartfernie@yahoo.co.uk

Other blogs available:

French Support Pages

Discussion of “Les Misérables”

Tales of teaching – memoirs of a former French teacher

Version française d’articles initialement publiés en anglais sur mon blog

All intellectual property rights reserved

Brief reflections on “12 Angry Men” (1957)

 

Brief reflections on “12 Angry Men” (1957)

Directed by Sidney Lumet

Script by Reginald Rose

Starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Joseph Sweeney et al.

Twelve male jurors are directed to retire and consider their verdict in a first-degree murder trial and, if found guilty, the eighteen-year-old accused of murdering his father will be sentenced to death. In reaching their verdict, the jurors must exercise judgement not just of the accused but also, at least to some extent, the system of justice, the jurors themselves and the society that helped form them all and their outlooks.

The film opens with a view of formidable steps leading to the imposing façade of a courthouse which symbolises the grand principles of law and order and the awesome responsibility of seeking justice. The trial has come to an end and the judge informs the jury of their duties and the conditions within which they must reach their verdict, emphasising the importance of reasonable doubt to be applied to their deliberations. The judge appears somewhat perfunctory and mechanical, perhaps due to the excessive heat in the courtroom, and the jurors themselves appear largely blasé or indifferent, nearly all convinced of the guilt of the accused. Only one juror, number eight, is concerned enough to propose discussing the case in detail since they will be deciding if a young man is to live or die.

Juror number eight takes his responsibility seriously and invites the others, who appear largely disaffected, condemnatory or self-centred, to do the same. If justice is to be truly served and if buildings, constructed as monuments to principle and ideals, are to be more than just façades, men and women, not some higher authority, must make justice work through objective assessment, critical thinking and consideration of evidence that must be tested or validated.

Juror eight advocates and emphasises the importance of “reasonable doubt” in the proceedings. The burden of proof lies with the prosecution as the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and guilt must be proved beyond question or challenge. To find the accused not guilty, it is therefore sufficient to cast doubt on evidence seen as suggesting guilt, or any other stimulus to find the accused guilty.

Reasons for the jurors’ judgements of the case and especially their evaluations of the accused are explored and, by applying reason and objectivity, issues such as environmental influence, bias, prejudice, racism and personal preoccupations are exposed, all weakening the case for finding the accused guilty.

Reason and logic are equally applied to witness statements which, at face value, appear to condemn the accused, but critical thinking casts doubt on the security and validity of these statements, eventually leading to a complete turn-around in the jurors’ perceptions and verdict.

Toward the end, after some bitter argument and recognition of the influence of personal traits and character flaws, at least one juror who resisted reason and change of heart to the very end, is devastated by the experience, but he is shown compassion by juror eight. The path to fairness may not be easy and it may be painful, but it is a noble endeavour that should be punctuated by humanity and compassion. I suggest that the “lesson” of the film regarding fairness and how to achieve it extends beyond the confines of the courtroom with the implication that we should recognise the existential responsibility we all have in our dealings with one another.

This is a film I find totally absorbing due to a combination of factors, including inspired, almost claustrophobic, one-room direction that creates tension, depicts pressure and conveys emotion, along with superb characterisation contained within the well-paced and beautifully constructed script, and the uniformly excellent performances of all involved.

This 1957 film and the 1954 teleplay on which it is based were, perhaps, the product of their time, a time in which McCarthyism was rife, a time when reason, objectivity and fairness were in danger of being abandoned, replaced by trial by alarmist rumour, innuendo, unfounded accusations and the manipulation of the masses through the stirring of fear and insecurity, a time that may have echoes in our present day. As such, this film may be viewed as a plea for reason and discussion in the face of ignorance, assumption and lack of integrity, and, sadly, it may be just as relevant today as it was some seventy years ago.

 

My thanks for taking the time to read this article. I hope you found it of some value.

Stuart Fernie (stuartfernie@yahoo.co.uk)

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