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| 12 Years a Slave - Fox Searchlight Runtime: 133 minutes Directed by Steve McQueen Written by John Ridley and Solomon Northup (book) |
12 Years a Slave - ★★★★
By Nate Davis
“12 Years a Slave” is a kick to the stomach experience that shines a flashlight into the dark corner of American slavery. Spanning over a decade, obvious from the title, Steve McQueen’s latest film is another snapshot of human beings trapped within their own bodies, this time literally in bondage, and the effect is profoundly disturbing and simultaneously captivating. The engrossing facet of McQueen’s film is “Slave” makes no attempts to reconcile.
Based on Solomon Northup’s bestseller of the same title, Steve McQueen (like his previous work “Hunger”) doesn’t hold our hand, but rather pushes us into this world that is unfortunately true. Many films have the title overlay of “based on a true story” before the narrative begins, but “12 Years a Slave” is so well done that instead of asking, “how could this happen?” we ask “why did this happen?” It is easily the greatest film about American slavery, but that isn’t McQueen’s intention. His goal was to show the worst part of our history, by making you feel actively apart of it.
Led by a strong performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor playing the protagonist Solomon, we are introduced to him already in bondage. Shortly after we flash back to his life with his family in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he is a free man that is respected within the community as a talented violinist. He has two young children and a wife as well, and he is presented with a opportunity to make extra money performing in the nation’s capitol, and like most men with a family, he wants to provide as much as he can for them. His supposed employers get him drunk, and Solomon wakes up chained in a basement dungeon. The camera pans up from him meekly calling out for help to put the white house center frame, an obvious intention of McQueen.
Solomon is taken by boat south and renamed “Platt” despite his objection. He is sold to a Mr. Ford in an auction house where we see mothers torn from their children. Ford, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, seems to have some modicum of kindness towards Solomon in this terrifying and foreign world. Ford recognizes the intellect and talent in Solomon and shows favor to him in giving him gifts and taking his advice over the overseer Tibeats. However, Solomon is quickly reminded by a fellow slave that Ford is and always will be a slave-trader. Although Ford invites slaves to mass and is kind in conversation, he quickly removes slaves he deems inconvenient at the drop of a hat. Tibeats, played disgustingly well by Paul Dano, is a slimy and jealous man, who finds Solomon’s intelligence threatening. Solomon is provoked to a boiling point by Tibeats and reacts physically, throwing the overseer to the ground, hitting him with a whip. Solomon is then tied up with a noose at his neck by Tibeats and other whites and is left barely able to touch the muddy ground with his toes in order to stay alive. It is arguably the most striking and disturbing image of the film, as other slaves casually go about their day with Solomon barely holding onto life. Ford returns and cuts Solomon down, but has to sell him off in order to avoid more altercations between Solomon and Tibeats.
Solomon is sold to Edwin Epps, a slave master who prides himself in breaking the will of slaves. Michael Fassbender plays Epps with a tour de force performance. Epps is an alcoholic, envious and lustful man, who hides behind scripture to commend his actions. One of the more disgusting scenes is when Epps drunkenly wakes up Solomon and other slaves in the dead of night to dance for him and his wife at night. We then see that Epps fancies one of his slaves, Patsey, played by newcomer Lupita Nyong’o. He comes to her at night and rapes her at his own pleasure. His obvious affection for her causes jealously to arise in Epps’ wife, played by Sarah Paulson.
By the time the messiah-like figure of Bass enters the picture, played by Brad Pitt (whose company produced the film as well), Solomon’s soul seems to have drifted out of him. We see Patsey come to him with a request to drown her and rid her of the terrible life she has. Solomon is further plunged into the awfulness of being under the shadow of Epps. Epps sees Solomon as threatening as well and comes close to killing him several times. There is a moving scene where we see Solomon lose all faith and hope as he joins the other slaves singing “Roll Jordan, Roll” at a burial of another slave. Epps and the cruel world of slavery has broken him.
Ejiofor’s performance coupled with McQueen’s vision brings us one of the best pictures of the year. It isn’t melodramatic, even though we know Solomon will return to tell his story at some point, based on the fact a book was written with the title “12 Years a Slave.” There aren’t happy moments to celebrate by the end, there are only horrors that put the topic of slavery into the foreground of our thoughts that stay days after the film ends. While Solomon’s story is one of a slave that was returned to freedom, we are left thinking about all the others that had to spend their entire lives in that cruel Hell.
