12 Years depicts brutal part of US history
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is a film about slavery unlike any we have seen before. In contrast to the giddy violence of Django Unchained, 12 Years shows a brutal image of a stain on our history, with acts so horrific that the film is both stunning and incredibly difficult to watch.
Emotion unchained · Chiwetel Ejiofor (center) gives a riveting performance in 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup, a free man from the North abducted and sold into slavery in the 19th century. – Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures
McQueen’s previous two films, Hunger and Shame, were unblinking examinations of a hunger strike and sex addiction, respectively. They were relentless movies, expertly honed to recreate the feelings of despair and helplessness that the protagonists (both played by Michael Fassbender) respectively felt.
In 12 Years, McQueen adapts the true story of Solomon Northup’s kidnapping from his life as a free man in New York and his eventual enslavement in Louisiana. The result is a sledgehammer of a movie. McQueen’s ability to craft a visceral portrayal of his protagonists’ experiences combined with the sheer brutality and hopelessness of the life of a slave in 1840s Louisiana results in a film that has an emotional impact stronger than any film released in a long time.
The movie does not shy away from its depictions of slavery’s horrors. It would be preposterous to say that the film “made you feel” the pain depicted on the screen because of the sheer volume of pain, both emotional and physical, involved. But the way the scenes were shot does strike viewers to the core.
From the moment when Northup, brilliantly played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, wakes up and sees he is in chains, the pain doesn’t stop. The first beating he suffers is jarring. Beaten with a wooden bat, the camera focuses on the faces of Northup and his tormenter in turn, showing both the intense pain and manic sadism present in every swing of the bat against Northup’s back. Any ideas of escape or resistance are promptly beaten out of him and every other person sharing his predicament. No film has stared so directly at slavery’s ugliness. Like Schindler’s List 20 years ago, this film takes on a subject that has already been condemned in films and shows the inhumanity that had been implied but never laid bare. The way 12 Years a Slave captures the sheer terror of slavery in detail puts it in a class with Schindler’s List. It is not only a great film, but also a vastly important one. In one particular way, this film manages to surpass Schindler ’s impact.
Like Schindler’s, this film actually focuses on the life of a particular man. Unlike that film, however, the man in 12 Years is actually undergoing the horror of the situation, rather than trying to fight against it. Ejiofor gives a powerhouse performance and reveals a talent hidden from the audience in his supporting roles in great films such as Children of Men, Inside Man and Serenity. His silent defiance and struggle against despair is awe-inspiring but never over the top. He is right at home as the leading man in a role that must have been harrowing to perform.
Fassbender, a constant favorite of McQueen’s, plays the worst plantation owner in the film, and his performance is equally breathtaking. He plays a man that is fundamentally wrong in what he believes, but he never becomes a caricature of evil — he is simply a man embroiled in the beliefs and rhetoric of the surroundings he lives in while also battling the demon of alcoholism. It is not hard to imagine Ejiofor and Fassbender sweeping the male acting Academy Awards this year for their performances.
The rest of the cast is littered with familiar faces from film and television. Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Mad Men’s Bryan Batt, Saturday Night Live’s Taran Killam and The Wire’s Michael K. Williams all play roles of varying nature. It shows just how important this film is to these people as many of them took on very small supporting roles, despite their larger profiles (this recalls last year’s Lincoln, which was similarly riddled with notable actors in minor roles).
If anything was annoying about the film, however, it was how some of these casting choices could distract the viewer from the power of the film. But honestly, that is the only problem. The film is amazing and traumatic, and if it doesn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars, there is something seriously wrong. No other film this year, for quite a few years really, is as emotionally charged or tragic as 12 Years a Slave. It’s a wonderful work of art as it is a historically important film. While other films coming out this year are sure to be great, this film should transcend other films from this year. It is a heartbreaking must-watch that should be considered a classic for years to come.
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