12 Years a Slave

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source: 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave

"12 Years a Slave" is a gripping, mostly well-made, but basically false film. To say it finally shows the brutal truth about U. S. chattel slavery just proves how blind opinion-shapers are about U.S. racism, past and present. Was the main outrage of slavery really that it could engulf a cultured, free black individual? That's what the hero suggests when, speaking to a sympathetic white, he protests the injustice of HIS captivity. As an afterthought, he also observes that slavery in general is unjust. Several of the other slaves with whom he interacts are inexplicably well-spoken and the camera lingers repeatedly on their faces to remind us of their stoic nobility. The filmmaker shows keen understanding of psychological nuance in the relationships between masters, other whites, and slaves. He evidently meant to evoke viewer empathy with victims who seem to be a lot like "us." This film is meant to make liberals feel good about "our" distance from that world. It predictably has outraged some reactionaries who don't like exposing the warts of U.S. "democracy." The main truth of U.S. slavery is not the story of extraordinary individuals either as victims or avengers but of ordinary people brutalized and traumatized, accommodating and finally resisting the private appropriation of their persons and their labor. The film that tells this truth won't be made until all those who labor, black and white, start speaking for themselves. Rita Freed

There is so much badness in our modern world and, because of the non-stop flood of digital information, it's coming at us ALL the time. Therefore, if I'm going to see a film about a horrible subject (which I'm not opposed to), I want to feel like I'm being subjected to it for a reason. I want to feel that the filmmaker has something to add to the conversation about it, draws some conclusions, makes a point that hasn't already been made. Otherwise, I feel like that much more badness has been added to my life for little purpose. That is my problem with "12 Years a Slave," a formally accomplished film but one which left me cold. It's two hours of watching the absolute worst humanity can inflict on itself, and beyond the fairly obvious point that slavery was a horrible dark stain on American history, there isn't much point to be made and certainly no sense of enlightenment on the subject. It's a film executed to make its audience feel bad, and it succeeds tremendously on those terms. But it fails in most other ways that make great movies truly great. I felt terrible for the slaves depicted in the film in the abstract, but the individual characters are never fully developed enough to feel bad about them as actual people. It's a hectoring film, one scene after another of hateful, brutal violence (physical, sexual, emotional) inflicted on one set of human beings by another, and the problem is that the people who will actually go to see this movie don't need to be told how terrible this kind of human evil is, while those who might serve to be enlightened on that subject wouldn't see a movie like this in a million years. Chiwetel Ejiofor gives a solid performance in the central role of a free black man who's kidnapped and sold into slavery for a dozen years. But his character never really came alive for me, and that limited the impact of Ejiofor's performance. Michael Fassbender is just asked to play crazy as a villainous plantation owner, while Brad Pitt shows up toward the film's conclusion and makes a speech about the evils of slavery right before our main character is rescued. This scene and Pitt's appearance as pretty much the only white person in the movie who's not either evil or indifferent seems a bit convenient given that he's a producer of the film. Sarah Paulson is memorable as Fassbender's equally villainous wife, while Alfre Woodard has a tiny role that teases us with the more complex issues about black and white relations in the slavery-era South that this film could have addressed had it been more interested in something other than the literalness of human suffering. Grade: C

Let me start off by saying that I like a good movie based on a true story like Schindler's List, The Butler, A Beautiful Mind, We Bought A Zoo, etc., etc. I'm also fully aware that not all events will be entirely factual so when I went into this movie I wasn't going in expecting accuracy in any form. What I did go in expecting was a good performance by great actors and I must say the acting was fantastic, but unfortunately the rest of the film was a complete train wreck. I felt it had potential at first and then that feeling quickly dissipated after watching the first beating commence and continued to diminish after seeing the attempted hanging where he walked around on his toes for at least a good twenty to thirty seconds and we had to sit and watch. I didn't think it was possible for the movie to get more boring but then they threw in yet another thirty second scene where we all proceeded to stare at the main character's face while he sat idle, occasionally moving his head from side to side. I wanted to feel emotion for these poor characters but every emotion that I had was quickly ruined by incredibly long, drawn out, and unnecessary scenes. Not only did I have to sit through the agonizing, stretched out scenes but whenever there was about to be a significant lapse of time within the main character's life they'd add in a bonus five to seven seconds where we stared at a bunch of trees. I'd like to say that I was moved by the movie or felt some sort of enjoyment in watching it but in truth the only touching moment I truly had was at the end of the film when I realized it was FINALLY over. I'd liken it's boringness to The Fifth Estate but honestly it was far worse. My advice to you would be to ignore the plethora of ten star reviews and think twice before you decide to pick it up for movie rental once it finally comes out on DVD.

I just saw this at LFF. It is a brilliant piece of cinema. Clearly it's central theme is slavery, and the depravity human nature can so easily reach; but it has many other small moments that trigger thoughts about wider issues - the role of religion being one for example. It is violent, and in some respects awful to watch, but this is the story of Solomon Northup told truthfully. There is nothing saccharine about the way Steve McQueen presents this and that is what makes it so astonishing. You cry because what you witness is truly terrible, not because the violins are out and the director's tugging on your heart strings. All the acting is first rate, as is the score by Hans Zimmer. This really should be essential viewing for everyone old enough to understand it.

Considering the social and economic importance of slavery in America's history, the scarcity of serious films depicting the daily life of slaves in the Confederate States is significant - especially since the after-effects from this shameful episode still echo through the culture. '12 Years a Slave' is based upon the memoirs of Solomon Northup, who endured a hellish period of enslavement in Louisiana, which is backed up by legal records. The story begins with him living with wife and children in upstate New York as a free man and respected member of his community. After being lured to Washington by a couple of con-artists who promised him work, he was subsequently drugged, locked in chains, viciously beaten, stripped of his identity and shipped to New Orleans to be sold into slavery. Over the next twelve years, he was owned by two men who treated him in contrasting ways. The first was a relatively civilized fellow, but the plantation's half-witted manager was threatened by Northup's superior intelligence. Their mutual dislike produced a dangerously volatile situation, and unwilling to lose his investment, Northup's owner re-sold him to a neighbor. This unbalanced individual regarded his slaves as property to be used for pleasure and profit, which caused them to live in perpetual fear that his capricious moods would flare into sadistic lust or rage at any moment. It's noteworthy that a British director has become one of the few filmmakers to delve deeply into this subject, and the combination of John Ridley's powerful script and McQueen's directorial skills has inspired exceptional performances from the entire cast. Their dramatization of Northup's experiences is both riveting and uncomfortable to watch, as the film depicts the perverse nature of a society that permitted such a barbaric system. Hopefully it will reach a large US audience, who will learn how a privileged Southern elite cruelly exploited their fellow humans in order to acquire greater wealth for themselves.

A random and encounter has led Solomon Northup from living freely in New York to being kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana, getting handed over to various slave owners. There, Solomon witnesses numerous acts of cruelty that no man should ever face. As I stared at the movie screen with full dread, I was reeling back at certain scenes I had just witnessed. There were good films and television shows about slavery before, and they had various nuances at how to tackle slavery. This film is part of said resurgence of the sub- genre, hot on the heels of "Django Unchained" and "The Butler". But while the former relinquishes on Spaghetti Western entertainment more than attempting to address the issue in a political light as the latter, Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" shuts those two up, and perhaps the entire sub-genre, for good. I doubt any future slavery-themed film will be as harrowing as this one was. Steve McQueen is a fearless filmmaker, continuing his streak of unfiltered brutality within human depths. He frames his actors' faces in extreme close-up, the eyes staring into despair, the nostrils fuming in aggression. Naked flesh are shown not because of erotic content, but rather because of desperation and futility. Long takes and wide shots are not uncommon in his films, and here they showcase a plethora of fantastic scenes and performances that work to discomfort the viewer as much as possible. McQueen doesn't just allow the audience to tackle slavery, he guts the audience and leaves them for the consequences. This is an extremely uncomfortable film to watch. Beautifully shot locations are placeholders for unsettling sequences before and after, contemplated by Hans Zimmer's poignant and at times horrifying score. This all works to create a nightmarish time and place where hell walks on Earth. Central to all of this is the performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon. Ejiofor showcases that he is a natural force to be reckoned with in this film, after a decade of mostly supporting characters. He spaces out in despair as the camera lingers onto him for solid minutes, not a word spoken. Another sequence shows him mourning the death of a fellow worker, in which the singing of the surrounding group compels him and shakes him down to tears. These scenes follow earlier ones where he is a classy, free man in the upper states, mingling happily with the crowd and partaking in fanciful music sessions. It is a tour-de-force performance. A fine ensemble of established and up-and-coming actors surround Ejiofor in his limelight - Paul Dano, Paul Giammati, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Paulson, even Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch, but none so ferociously as McQueen regular Michael Fassbender as the despicable, sadistic plantation owner Edwin Epps. So excellent and terrifying is Fassbender's portrayal of such a merciless and barbaric person, that the mere sight of him will either cause audience members unfamiliar to him to flinch. I was left speechless as the credits rolled. A lesser film would have added tacked-on sentimentality/exaggeration and politically influenced claptrap. Not this one. This is a movie to watch as a reminder of how powerful the human spirit can endeavor, and how lucky all of us have grown past that dreadful time in history. The full effect of it has not been felt in movies before, until now.