12 Years a Slave
Directed by Steve McQueen
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises
Starring as the lead in a breakout role, Chiwetel Ejiofor will have you grabbing for tissues, but his performance also makes you sadly desperate for a fight.
Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, an 1840s free black man living in New York until his trusting character and too much wine send him straight into the shackles and the lashes of harsh 19th century American slavery.
No, this is no history lecture. It’s a true story written by Northup himself. It’s a story director Steve McQueen chains you to for a tough, nightmarish, and almost unbearable two-and-a-half hours.
The film is a hauntingly beautiful portrayal of old world United States, where even a free black man like Northup can become a slave simply for the colour of his skin. At one point, Northup states, “I don’t want to survive, I want to live.” Unfortunately we have to watch him “survive” for 12 years until he can live.
Don’t get me wrong, this film is artful, gorgeously-shot, and jam-packed with suspenseful scenes and tear-jerking moments. But the pace drags like Southern molasses until the final scenes. Though McQueen was trying to capture the cruel reality of Northup’s story, the lack of a climax doesn’t work well for a satisfying film.
Having said that, the acting is stellar.
Northup is bought by a Southerner named Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) who obviously doesn’t agree with the slave laws but keeps his mouth shut about them.
Northup ends up in the ownership of one of the most mentally unstable slave owners in the county. Michael Fassbender takes over this role and turns it into almost a study in psychopathic brutality that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Unfortunately even Fassbender’s character doesn’t lead to any significant action or plot development. His lecherous attention is focused on his favourite slave, Patsey (played by Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o) and the most intriguing conflict here is between him and his wife who complains incessantly of his affair.
In all, the film holds up for its historical value, emotional speeches, and cinematic beauty, but Northup was too much talk and not enough walk for Hollywood. With the attention span of most viewers these days, I think McQueen intended this movie for the patience of older audiences.
By the end of the film, the audience honestly feels it has gone through 12 years as a slave. With a title like that, maybe that was the intention.
