THE JURY

A high angle extreme close-up shot of a woman’s face. So deeply focused
she is biting her nails while listening. What is she listening to? Some voices
being exchanged through microphones, pointing out a homicide case. As
the title indicates, this is a trial, in which the woman is a juror. Virginia Garcia
del Pino has us sitting at the top of a sophisticated triangle: we are watching
someone listening to something, without seeing what she can see (magistrates,
policemen, experts, etc.) although hearing everything the same way
she does. We can hear the words while watching the effect they produce on
someone else: we are both listening and surveying the listening process.
She is our mirror image. The situation is even more critical as she is not
a passive spectator. Her duty? To discern the significant facts and return a
verdict. As we scrutinise her (a juror suddenly becoming the one being tried),
a highly selective attention can be observed: a strain towards truth and
justice.
Finally, being bereft of what she can see, we will inevitably make it up:
a mental film as a rival to the ongoing picture. The labyrinthine effect of the
information we can hear is therefore increased: What image could match
such and such word? What does this uncouth solicitor look like? What about
the deep-voiced judge? Is the defendant in? Technical problems, mentioned
during the hearing and failing to produce certain images and sounds,
comically echo our own struggle to picture the scenes. A trial as an opportunity
to obstruct the truth from being brought out: this is cinema teaching
us a lesson. (JPR)