Plot Intro
New York, 1841. African American free man, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) lives a life of relative peace with his wife and children. But on a trip to Washington DC, where slavery is legal, he is drugged and kidnapped by two slave dealers and sold into slavery. His protests are ignored, and he is sent to deepest darkest Louisana where he must toil under the tyranny of Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), and confront the suffering of his fellow slaves.
12 Years a Slave is pretty comparable to 1993’s winner, Schindler’s List. It tackles a topic and period of history that can drive someone to therapy for PTSD just thinking about it, and it’s made with a tenacious desire to expose and illustrate exactly how horrifying life was for the oppressed. It’s also a pretty accurate depiction of one man’s story, so it feels slightly disrespectful to the people who suffered historically if I were to criticise the film.
But, I’m afraid I AM going to criticise it despite the film’s virtues. Admittedly, it’s an admirable win, bearing in mind it defeated such popular hits as American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Philomena and The Wolf of Wall Street, but at least four of those would have had my vote over Slave.
I think this is a bold statement to make bearing in mind how gruelling the film is, and the film does have some things going for it. It stays close to the original source material, a memoir written by Northup himself after he was restored to freedom, and its a remarkable tale, starkly reminding us that even those African Americans who lived in states where slavery was outlawed could suffer the sadistic hand of the white supremacist. Meanwhile, the climactic scene that deservedly won Lupita Nyong’o her Best Supporting Actress Oscar, is a tour de force in itself. Both she and Northup have it out with the evil Epps (Michael Fassbender, overracting a bit), get beaten and whipped, while an impassive Sarah Paulson and various other slaves watch on, all portrayed within one, smooth camera shot. And as a piece of education about the acts and evils of slavery in pre-civil war US, there’s plenty to unpick.
But where it falls short of Schindler’s List status is probably its total lack of heart. Schindler’s List is notoriously horrible and you lose track of the number of people succumbing to the Nazi death policies. Schindler’s famous ending, in which the real figures from the story visit Schindler’s grave accompanied by their actor counterparts, accentuate the heroism of the central figure to the point where we all had to have private trips to the bathroom to ball our eyes out. 12 Years a Slave has no such moment- it’s just gruelling. It’s a series of scenes in which Solomon is kidnapped, beaten, wounded, sold, disregarded and separated from his family for over a decade- but not even Solomon is supplied with much characterisation other than the stoicism and perfection one only gets from the heroes of ancient epics. The white characters are either good-hearted (but slave owners), or evil racists (and also slave owners). The black characters are either hysterical screamers or just don’t get any lines at all.
I can see that this was a deliberate choice. This is a topic-driven tale and Steve McQueen pointed out in his Oscar acceptance speech that he wanted to expose an issue that still permeates the Earth today, and he does this well. But if only the script had put more insight, more depth into its characters, then we could potentially feel for them on the same complex levels as those in Schinder’s List.
Highlight
The climactic showdown between Epps and Northup/Lupita Nyong’o is worth watching on its own. It loses its shock factor somewhat because many of the preceding scenes are just as, if not more, shocking. But it’s still staged incredibly well.
Lowlight
The opening scenes in which Solomon is drugged and kidnapped jump around in time a bit haphazardly to the point where his actual kidnapping loses its punch. It should be a much more devastating “oh God, how the hell is he going to get out of this one” moment, but it isn’t.
Mark
6/10
I came into this slightly warily because I’ve heard so much about it being gruelling and difficult to watch, and so in a way I was slightly surprised because not every scene is someone being beaten to death. Turns out previous viewers somehow over-exaggerated which is pretty impressive given that the film is highly grisly and brimming with violence.
It’s a well-told film and I particularly liked how director Steve McQueen lets the story unfold slowly, using lingering shots that stay past the moment you imagine other directors would have cut and moved on. The moment when Northup has been (unsuccessfully) hanged by an enraged overseer, and dangles with his toes barely touching the ground is a superb example of this. He struggles for what feels like minutes and McQueen allows the shot to continue, to the extent we start seeing people move around in the background slowly going about their day trying to ignore him struggling. It’s a really intelligent move, letting us see the extent of the slaves’ fear - that they can’t help someone dangling on the edge of life.
Acting wise it’s a well produced film too. Ejiofor is at a career-best, showing the confusion, fear and life-saving instincts of Northup throughout, while I thought Fassbender did a decent job of showing a drunken bastard who is in love with one of his slaves and simultaneously despises her. Most impressive for me were the women though, Nyong’o and Paulson are marvellous - the former as an oppressed yet still spirited young woman, and the second as a bitter, twisted racist. Paulson is usually fab anyway, but she performs this role - including some incredibly strange moments such as throwing a decanter directly at Nyong’o’s head - with real believability.
Credit also has to be given to the script, for pointing out the slightly greyer areas that history often omits - such as the black ex-slave who married her master and became a woman of some power and significance, and the white man who was down on his luck and worked alongside the black slaves in the field.
It’s a sign that this is a film written and directed by people of colour - unlike the atrocious Crash and the dull Green Book which were both written and directed by white men, and can be summed up as ‘did you know that racism is bad?’ This feels a lot more pointed and powerful for it, with space being given to a more interesting story. As Paul says, the film lacks heart, and frequently chooses to rely on violence to move the audience. Even the pivotal climactic scene where Epps finally bows to his wife’s wishes is moving without being tear-inducing. It’s just grim.
My main takeaway from this though was more of a question. Why is it that for Hollywood to crown a film with a majority black cast, the subject matter always has to be about racism? Why is it, for that matter, that most mainstream films with a majority black cast are about racism? I’m getting exhausted of the trope, and with films like Crazy Rich Asians using a majority Asian cast to tell a romantic drama, I think it’s time we saw more majority-black films telling stories that don’t focus on a white/black divide. I believe that the upcoming Moonlight will be an example of this, and the recent If Beale Street Could Talk was a wonderful example of a story being told that wasn’t hugely focusing on racism in society but with a massive black cast. So fingers crossed…
Highlight
It’s a strange one, but I’m going to agree with Paul that the climactic scene where Epps finally turns on Lupita Nyong’o’s character is gruesome but also the pinnacle of the film, and one that we’ve been unknowingly led to for quite a while.
Lowlight
I found Benedict Cumberbatch a bit annoying as a ‘nice’ slave-owner. I get that the film was explaining not all slave-owners were horrid, but come on - they were still owning and working humans for their own profit.
Mark
7/10
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