Which films use community as tribunal?

M (1931), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), City of Women (1980), The Age of Innocence (1993), Mystic River (2003), The Human Stain (2003) and 5 more films in the CineCode library.

What kind of technique is community as tribunal?

It is a narrative technique. Related narrative techniques include Perpetrator Perspective, Multiple Resolution Structure, The Long Reveal.

Narrative technique · used in 11 films

Community as Tribunal

Showing a community turn into its own informal court, outside the legal system. Mob logic and social pressure take the place of legal process, the same way a rumor hardens into a conviction.

Examples

11 films that use it

M
Fritz Lang · 1931
The Berlin criminal organizations set up their own investigation and their own court alongside the police. Theirs works better, has more reason to succeed and in the end is more threatening. Beckert is tried in an abandoned distillery by the very people whose business he puts at risk just by existing. The court scene is where the film says this most openly. There are 2 justice systems running side by side, and neither is fully legitimate.
Where to see it: The kangaroo court sequence. The criminals and beggars put Beckert on trial. Their unofficial court follows full legal procedure and delivers its verdict.
Murder on the Orient Express
Sidney Lumet · 1974
The passengers are not the law, yet they act as judge and jury for a man who escaped trial after a child's death. Poirot and Bianchi must decide whether to accept that, and the film does not make it easy.
Where to see it: Cassetti's identity: Poirot finds a charred letter showing that Ratchett is the gangster Cassetti, who kidnapped and killed Daisy Armstrong and fled the country.
City of Women
Federico Fellini · 1980
Marcello Mastroianni's Snaporaz faces a female court that judges his masculinity. The film turns his fears into a comic, uncomfortable show.
Where to see it: The dream trial: after the toboggan slide past his childhood crushes, a female court judges Snaporaz.
The Age of Innocence
Martin Scorsese · 1993
Society never says a word in public, but it judges. It refuses to help Julius Beaufort in a financial panic and ends his place in the group. In the end it also works to keep Archer from Ellen.
Where to see it: The farewell party: May announces she is pregnant and shows she has long understood, and Archer realizes the community kept him from Ellen.
Mystic River
Clint Eastwood · 2003
Jimmy and his friends take the law into their own hands. They get Dave drunk in a local bar and force a confession out of him. The neighborhood acts as judge and executioner while the police are still working.
Where to see it: Bar confrontation: Jimmy and his friends invite Dave to a local bar, get him drunk and confront him. Jimmy forces Dave to admit to Katie's murder and then kills him and drops his body in the Mystic River.
The Human Stain
Robert Benton · 2003
The faculty at Athena College turn on Coleman over his remark. His career ends and his wife dies soon after, so the college acts like a court with no due process.
Where to see it: The resignation: Coleman leaves Athena College after being accused of making a racist remark in class.
Lady Vengeance
Park Chan-wook · 2005
Geum-ja gathers the parents of Mr. Baek's other victims. They hold their own trial and kill him together, outside the law. Then they take a group photo, so everyone shares the act.
Where to see it: The gathering of the parents. They confront Mr. Baek, carry out the punishment together and bury the body.
Little Children
Todd Field · 2006
When Ronnie shows up at the public pool, parents panic and pull their children out. No court is involved. The crowd decides what he deserves, and the harassment that follows leads to a tragic result.
Where to see it: The pool scene. Parents spot Ronnie in the water, and police remove him as the pool empties.
The Hunt
Thomas Vinterberg · 2012
Vinterberg shows you each step of how the town turns on Lucas. First comes a whisper, then the official response, then growing certainty and finally the whole town punishing him together. No single person is a monster. The people judging him are ordinary, and each one makes a choice you can understand on its own. Added together, those choices destroy an innocent man.
Where to see it: The supermarket confrontation. The store staff attack Lucas and throw him out. That's the town's verdict, delivered with no trial.
Bernie
Richard Linklater · 2012
The town has already decided Bernie is a good man. Many citizens defend him, even saying that Nugent deserved to die. District attorney Danny Buck Davidson has to ask for a change of venue to find an unbiased jury.
Where to see it: The change of venue: Davidson successfully requests that the trial be moved to San Augustine because Carthage will not convict Bernie.
Richard Jewell
Clint Eastwood · 2019
The press and public judge Jewell before any court does. The media narrative shifts from praise to blame overnight. A rumor hardens into a conviction.
Where to see it: Media turn: the Atlanta Journal publishes the story on its front page and the media narrative about Jewell immediately shifts from laudatory to critical. He then does a disastrous interview on The Today Show.

Questions

Quick answers

What is community as tribunal in film?: Showing a community turn into its own informal court, outside the legal system. Mob logic and social pressure take the place of legal process, the same way a rumor hardens into a conviction.
Which films use community as tribunal?: M (1931), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), City of Women (1980), The Age of Innocence (1993), Mystic River (2003), The Human Stain (2003) and 5 more films in the CineCode library.
What kind of technique is community as tribunal?: It is a narrative technique. Related narrative techniques include Perpetrator Perspective, Multiple Resolution Structure, The Long Reveal.

Keep exploring

11 films that use it

Quick answers

Related techniques