In "Twelve Oceans" (1957), a film by Sidney Lumet, a juror (Henry Fonda) manages to reverse the decision of his ten colleagues willing to convict a young man accused of killing his father. Fonda, juror number 8, is not convinced of the boy's guilt and presents objections that double, one by one, each person's certainty. In the end, everyone votes to acquit the boy. It's 95 minutes in a unique setting, the jury meeting room, and a swordplay of dialogues in search of truth and justice. In "Kill or Die" (1952), by Fred Zinnemann, a sheriff (Will Kane, played by Gary Cooper) is warned by telegraph that a murderer he arrested years before has been released and rides towards the city, with two other gunmen, to take revenge. It will be three against one. Kane, to whom the city owed the peace in which it lived, asks the citizens for help and everyone has reason to refuse. Left alone, he faces and kills all three (the third, with the help of his Quaker fiancée Grace Kelly). When the town goes to celebrate him, Kane takes the little star off his vest, throws it to the ground and leaves. In "The Wind Will Be Your Heritage" (1960), by Stanley Kramer, a lawyer (Spencer Tracy) faces a massively evangelical and creationist small town determined to silence a young professor who is a fan of science and evolutionism. The film shows the trial, a duel of arguments between Tracy and another powerful lawyer (Fredric March) about Darwin and the Bible — Darwinism was then a crime in the state. The teacher ends up sentenced, but to a ridiculous fine, which will not prevent him from teaching. This was the USA that, despite all the dirt in international politics, we were led to admire. The country in which, through bravery and correction, an individual managed to prevail over a hostile majority. Today it is the opposite: a Ferabrás imposes itself through power and antagonizes and crushes the majority. Donald Trump appears to be declaring war on the USA itself. And Americans no longer have a Henry Fonda, a Gary Cooper and a Spencer Tracy to defend them. Columns Receive a selection of Folha columns in your email LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access seven free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.