They are Making THE PLEA

 

Jeri Jaquin

World Premiering this week at the Woodstock Film Festival from writer/directors Zach Le Beau and Dean Imperial, is the story of differences when making THE PLEA.

Inside a deliberating room at a courthouse, a jury is getting to know one another, and it’s not working. In the middle of tension, actor Jack Smith, aka juror #2, walks into the room playing it cool. The court bailiff (April Matthis) walks through the room collecting cell phones and shouting the instructions for the jurors.

Sequestered in a hotel with two to a room, close quarters mean getting to know one another, whether they like it or not. In one room, a young woman angry at the world and a Christian woman. Facing off on beliefs, it is clear their room sharing is going to be a challenge. In the next room, two men you don’t care to be known by their number. Charles is living on Social Security, and Simon is the doctor.

In the third room is a woman who wants to make a difference in the world and another woman who doesn’t see it exactly that way. Across in the fourth room is a very outspoken man who really isn’t a people person, and his roommate, who has a very strict idea and is very confined by his world of rules. Down at the hotel bar, two jurors are having a drink. Flirting happens, but the humor is in the turn-aways. That’s only night one.

The actual first day of deliberations is led by the stringent juror #10. The case? A man delivering embryos at a clinic has dropped a tray. Now the question becomes, according to the law, did he commit murder? It doesn’t take long before the arguing, loud fighting, and differences come out in full force. When not arguing the case, they each find themselves opening up, sharing their lives, unrealized prejudices, fears, and insecurities. Their emotions are night and day, literally.

The cast includes Dean Imperial as Juror 1, Jason Alan Carvell as Juror 2, Danny Deferrari as Juror #3, Alaina Surgener as Juror #4, Trieu Tran as Juror #5, Millicent Simmonds as Juror #6, Antoniette Crowe-Legacy as Juror #7, Kathryn Erbe as Juror #8, Carolina Gutierrez as Juror #9, Zach LeBeau as Juror #10, Rebecca Rose Bulnes as Juror #11, Dennis Boutsikaris as Juror #12, Mara Stephens as the Interpreter and Gbenga Akinnagbe as the bartender.

The characters in this film are each driven by their own prejudices and motivations to be heard, and that’s what makes this film so different. Yes, there could be comparisons to the 1957 black-and-white film 12 ANGRY MEN. Being touted as a satirical noir, it takes on today's issues of American “values”, what is defined as “personhood”, continued prejudices, differences in belief systems, all wrapped up in a tangled batch of misunderstandings and raised voices for power.

The dynamic in the amazing actors portraying such a diverse room full of jurors, some who want to be there but most do not, is seamless. It could quite easily have become a mess of control, but instead, I found myself seriously listening to each person on the screen. Doing that alone had me invested in how they handled their private lives and jury room deliberations. Their arguments were clearly based in their angers, frustrations, beliefs, need to be heard, and refusal to change minds in a situation that is a no-win for anyone. 

I appreciate what writer/directors Imperial and Le Beau did with this film. Trust me when I say there is absolutely nothing wrong with being compared in any way to 12 ANGRY MEN. In fact, it is a compliment, at least from me, as that film is on my 25-film list. Rather than try to reinvent the wheel or try to re-split the atom, Imperial and Le Beau took something amazing from the past and brought it into the future with full focus on our current world, and, as far as I’m concerned, honored the 1957 film in the process. Doing that means the conversations for THE PLEA will be had, repeatedly. Congratulations and well done!

In the end – twelve divided jurors, one controversial case, America on trial!