Passes the Bechdel test
12 Strong
2018. Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, written by Ted Tally and Peter Craig and Doug Stanton.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 178. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
The True Story of the Army's Special Forces "Green Berets", who within weeks responded to the 9-11 attack. Green Berets, with the help of the 160th SOAR(A), took over the country and allowed other Special Forces and the rest of the conventional military to begin the more publicly visible war.
- Released
- 19 Jan 2018
- Genres
- Action, Drama, History
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 54 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Nelson 354 lines, man
- Dostum 111 lines, man
- Spencer 73 lines, man
- Diller 70 lines, man
- Coffers 44 lines, man
- Milo 37 lines, man
- Jean 34 lines, woman
- Michaels 26 lines, man
- Essex 20 lines, man
- Colonel Mulholland 17 lines, man
Full cast, 53 people
- Chris Hemsworth as Mitch Nelson
- Michael Shannon as Hal Spencer
- Michael Peña as Sam Diller
- Navid Negahban as General Dostum
- Trevante Rhodes as Ben Milo
- Geoff Stults as Sean Coffers
- Thad Luckinbill as Vern Michaels
- Austin Stowell as Fred Falls
- Ben O'Toole as Scott Black
- Jack Kesy as Charles Jones
- Fahim Fazli as Commander Khaled
- Austin Hébert as Pat Essex
- Kenny Sheard as Bill Bennett
- Elsa Pataky as Jean Nelson
- Yousuf Azami as Captain
- Taylor Sheridan as Brian
- William Fichtner as Colonel Mulholland
- Rob Riggle as Max Bowers
- Yasmine Aker as Teacher
- Marie Wagenman as Maddy Nelson
- Kevin Kent as 555 Soldier
- Lauren Chavez-Myers as Lisa Diller
- Seth Adkins as Josh
- Allison Gabriel as Marcha Spencer
- Mustafa Haidari as Taliban Fighter
- Shawn Lecrone as Northern Alliance Soldier / Dostum Flank
- Frank Powers as SF Civilian
- Martin Palmer as Northern Alliance Soldier
- Laith Nakli as Ahmed Lal
- J. Nathan Simmons as Villiage Elder
- Veronica Díaz-Carranza as Henriques
- Peter Karas as Habib
- Ali Olomi as Afghan Man
- Shvan Aladdin as Al Qaeda Fighter
- Kenneth Miller as Jackson
- Tim Aydelott as Special Forces First Sargent
- Matthew Van Wettering as Desk Sargent
- James Joseph Pulido as Newmark
- Shawn Sarmeidani as Dostum's Bodyguard
- Anouar H. Smaine as Taliban Fighter
- Nour Bitar as Afghany Mother
- Edward Butron as Taliban / New Alliance
- Christian Pedersen as SF Soldier
- Arshia Mandavi as Najeeb
- Nate Boyer as Captain Nosorog
- Adrian Luna as Taliban Soldier
- Benjamin Poe as Special Forces Captain
- Perla Daoud as Afghani Girl
- Michael E. Stogner as Village Elder (uncredited)
- Lawrence Gilligan as Taliban Soldier
- Tommy Truex as Chinook Pilot
- Jay Moore as Special Forces Captain (uncredited)
- Sofia Chicorelli Serna as Crying Afghan Girl #1
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 178
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 9 | 11 |
| 5 to 8 | 4 | 12 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 11 |
| 13 to 16 | 8 | 19 |
| 17 to 20 | 6 | 23 |
| 21 to 24 | 7 | 17 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 16 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 20 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 24 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 32 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 12 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 21 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 22 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 11 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 28 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 54 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 21 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 18 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 30 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 38 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 21 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 46 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 26 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 10 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 14 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 29 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 33 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 12 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 32 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 11 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 5 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 21 |
| 133 to 136 | 10 | 26 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 15 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 20 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 11 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 4 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 23 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 9 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 8 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 10 |
| 173 to 176 | 1 | 3 |
| 177 to 178 | 0 | 11 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
JEAN: Honey? MADDY JEAN: Honey, it’s for you.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 5 are women's.
49 lines from women, 847 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 34 men in the cast. 7 women and 23 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 950.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 576 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 5% of the words (451), men 95% (9,167).
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
6
Two men
100
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Nicolai Fuglsig (man)
- Written by
- Peter Craig (man), Ted Tally (man)
- Produced by
- Jerry Bruckheimer (man), Molly Smith (woman), Trent Luckinbill (man), Thad Luckinbill (man)
- Shot by
- Rasmus Videbæk (man)
- Edited by
- Lisa Lassek (woman)
- Music by
- Lorne Balfe (man)
- Production design by
- Christopher Glass (man)
- Costumes by
- Daniel J. Lester (man)
- Cast by
- Jo Edna Boldin (woman), John Papsidera (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
4 women, 10 men, 30 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 22 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 17 not listed
-
Production
8 women, 12 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 3 men, 16 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 10 men, 10 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 10 men, 7 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
Ben O'Toole 26, Trevante Rhodes 27, Jack Kesy 31, Austin Stowell 33, Chris Hemsworth 34, Geoff Stults 40, Michael Peña 42, Thad Luckinbill 42, Michael Shannon 43, Navid Negahban 49
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $35 million
- Box office
- $67.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 178 scenes and 950 lines of dialogue. How the test works
