12 YEARS A SLAVE for the Ages

Director Steve McQueen (no relation to the actor) has made a name for his personal, bold themes (Shame) and has come of age with his latest, most affecting film, 12 Years a Slave, adapted by John Ridley from the novel by Solomon Northrop.  Perhaps no major studio film has portrayed slavery in America so honestly and directly. 

 

Solomon Northrop (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free man in New York in 1841 with a wife and two children.  He is educated and blessed with a talent for playing the violin.  A tempting offer of work leads him to Washington D.C. where two white men trick him into being mistaken for a slave.  Helpless and unable to communicate with his family or anyone who can help him, Solomon is pulled into the world of torture and servitude as a slave to be auctioned as a commodity in the South.  Northrop is witness to inhumanity by white slave owners as families are torn apart.  He is sold from one plantation to another and finds one owner, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender, a standout), who is not only strong willed but cruel and immoral.  Time goes by, and he always maintains a sense of dignity and hope while exhibiting compassion for his brethren.  Northrop’s desperate attempts to escape or get a letter to his family need the sympathetic ear of a good Samaritan for his salvation.

 

Imagine being held against your will and performing menial, backbreaking work at the behest of cruel masters who strike out with deadly violence at the drop of a hat.  Now imagine that as an educated slave, he dares not reveal his intelligence lest he be executed.  Silence means survival.   Rebellion is met with severe punishment and death.  All this goes on year after year with little or no hope. 

That it took this long in cinema history to depict this stain of human intolerance is sobering especially in the post-Roots generation.  McQueen depicts the horrors of oppression and outright sadism while getting the details such as the frightened reactions of slaves to mere sounds.  He also has a firm sense of time and place with striking visuals.  Cinematography is excellent, and the period recreation is authentically convincing with historic set design and costumes as well as the flavor of music.  The film is similar to the lean narrative of Clint Eastwood’s recent films without the emotional pathos of Steven Spielberg. 

Ejiofor (Salt) has the best role of his career, and aside from the always impressive Fassbender (Prometheus), the surprise performance has to be Lupita Nyong’o as perhaps the most tragic of slaves.  Benedict Cumberbatch (perhaps the busiest actor currently) has an effective role of a sympathetic slave owner.  In an interesting bit role, Saturday Night Live’s Taran Killam shows a brief glimpse of dramatic potential.  There are several name actors who take supporting or bit roles including Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, and Alfre Woodard.  Brad Pitt has a brief but significant moment that is a turning point in the story.  He had a significant role as producer in bringing the book to the screen, and it shows just how shrewd he was to take a chance on a story that needed to be told. 

It’s a very sobering journey in American history that is harrowing and painful, and by the time the powerful ending arrives, you may find yourself not only thoroughly drained, but more appreciative of the life of one person (whose postscript is also noteworthy).  It’s a difficult subject matter handled by McQueen with compassion and unflinching realism.  A moving chronicle of a family torn apart amid historical injustice, 12 Years a Slave is about the indomitable human spirit and its ultimate triumph amid intolerable adversity. 

**** of **** stars