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List Price: $39.98 | | Label: Goldhill Home Media
Salesrank: 58391
Released: February 25, 2003 |
| Our Price: $29.98 |
| Used Price: $27.73 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Is Duvinder guilty? Or is he innocent? Share the tension and the excitement as the jury decides.
John Maher (Billy Scott) lay dead in the grass, the victim of 28 well-placed stab wounds. A stolen sword coated in blood lands near the 15-year-old schoolboy's body. It's clearly a case of unrestrained vengeance. John's Sikh schoolmate, Duvinder Singh (Sonnell Dadral), hated him. Hated him enough to commit murder. A horrendous, premeditated murder in cold blood. Or so we're told.
We're also told this gentle, intelligent boy is incapable of killing. He's innocent. Chilling suspense fills "The Jury" as the highly publicized trial pits Sikh and Anglo communities against each other. Logic against intuition. Pride against shame. The jurors must decide what side they're on - both inside the courtroom, and outside.
Award-winning actor Sir Derek Jacobi (Gosford Park; Gladiator; I, Claudius) stars as George Cording QC (queen's council). As Duvinder's lawyer, he must convince the jury of the young boy's innocence in the face of compelling evidence that suggests otherwise. Cording knows his only hope is to confront the evidence head on and expose a scathing case of prejudice. His powers of persuasion have never been sharper.
Gerald Lewis QC (esteemed actor Sir Antony Sher, Shakespeare in Love, Alive & Kicking, Superman II) can be arrogant-he's entitled. After all, his witness saw blood on the accused's shirt. His witness saw an agitated Duvinder running away. His witness found the body. An impassioned relating of the events will certainly bring the guilty verdict Lewis demands.
The Jury Reviews:
good piece of work! 
2009-06-22 - This was a very interesting piece of film making. Moving around behind the central story of murder there are several other stories of what I might call "the concrete answer". I found the priest to be especially fascinating and the man who lost it all but had difficulty playing market this one more time. Then there's the lady whose trapped in an abusive marriage; psychological prison. Then the most intriguing, the alcoholic who is trying desperately to climb out of the past entanglements with drink. This was five hours well spent - the story tell us very plainly; there is NO concrete answer to any of our work on this earth!
The Jury 
2009-05-17 - It starts out slow. Show how prejudice can overtake a person during grief. People are human. The stories within the story are good. Butler did a great job protraying an alcoholic. Great actor.
Nondescript -- Save Your Money 
2009-04-18 - A story about a trial and jury deliberations. Stronger focus on jurors than others of its genre. Reasonable character development. Nothing in any category that stands out. For other British TV/cinema products that you will remember much longer than this one, see reviews I and others have written.
Very Bad Photography! 
2009-01-04 - "The Jury", shot with multiple cameras, all apparently hand-held, is the worst photographed Granada Television feature I've ever seen! Strictly amateur throughout Part 1,that I just watched [3 January 2009]. My rating--because of bad photography--jerky, badly edited, heads cut-off in extreme close-ups--I give this turkey 1 star [or half a star!].
Great Ensemble Piece
2008-12-30 - I was so impressed (and smitten) by Gerard Butler in The Phantom of the Opera that I picked up The Jury just to see more of him. I did see more -- I saw an actor of great range in a gentle, achingly realistic portrayal of a recovering alcoholic finding his way sober. His contribution was beautiful and I loved it. And happily, there is much more to The Jury.
This is an ensemble piece. The cast includes Derek Jacobi, Helen McCrory, Sylvia Syms, Nicholas Farrell, Sonnell Dadral, and many equally talented actors, each wearing heart on sleeve. We glimpse into the lives of these jurors, selected at random and pulled from their routines to serve. Their stories are touching and true-to-life. In fact, having recently ended an important but failed relationship of my own, I was stunned to find my feelings of grief and loss mirrored in the life of one of the jurors.
It is also a compelling crime story depicting the trial of a Sikh teenager accused of the violent slashing murder of a classmate who had tormented him. The trial unfolds through unembellished evidence and testimony. While not portrayed minute-to-minute, this aspect of the show is scripted so well that you feel you are in the public gallery. We struggle too as each juror endeavors to sort through the facts of this horrifying crime to come to a verdict -- the right verdict. The overwhelming responsibility of their task is revealed in its time. The script does not lead you to jump to conclusions; the outcome is believeable and not completely comfortable.
The musical score is very moving. The locations and editing are perfect and depict a modern "London" inhabited by these diverse jurors. I am traveling to London soon and plan to visit The Old Bailey so that I can see "Justice" for myself. I give The Jury five gold stars.
