12 Years a Slave Movie Review

Nominated for 9 Academy Awards including
Best Picture
Best Director (Steve McQueen)
Best Actor (Chiwetl Ejiofor)
Best Supporting Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o)
Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley)
Best Editing
Best Production Design
Best Costume Design

12 Years a Slave is one of the most talked about films in years, and for good reason. This is the most harrowing, brutal, and visceral look at american slavery in cinema to date, and (despite people's differing opinions on the film) everyone can agree that it holds nothing back. If anything, director Steve McQueen should be greatly commended for his refusal to sugarcoat ANYTHING (and I do mean anything) and his courage for tackling the subject head on. It also helps that he adds incredible artistic merit to the proceedings by capturing gorgeous wide shots of the beautiful (but melancholy) settings, long, meaningful take depicting some of the most unforgivable acts imaginable, and giving the film a beautiful emotional tone, that never feels manipulative or contrived. 12 Years a Slave also features some of the best performances of last, or any year, gorgeous cinematography from the masterful Sean Bobbit, a complex, honest script from John Ridley and a beautiful, melodic score from the iconic Hanz Zimmer. This is, without a doubt, an excellent film. However, I'm going to disagree with dozens of critics and moviegoers by saying this. This is a flawed film. It's not perfect, and it's by no means the masterpiece many are claiming it to be. Now mind you, this is one of the best films of 2013, and should be required viewing for anyone ages 13+, and after seeing the film a second time I respect and appreciate it much, much more. But, I still think it has a few problems and flaws that I need to address. I wanted this to be one of my favorite films of all time. I really did. I wanted to walk out of this film with my life COMPLETLEY CHANGED, and to be reinvigorated by the power of cinema. I wasn't. Granted, an excellent film that moved me and affected in ways that few films have, but again, not perfect. Let's get into the review.

12 Years a Slave follows the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living a respectable life as a highly regarded violin player with his family in Saratoga, NY. He is then tricked by a pair of con artists, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. The film follows the 12 years that Solomon is imprisoned in a number of plantations in the 19th century south, and we (the audience) are a fly on the wall as we watch some of the most horrific, violent, and brutalizing scenes ever put to film.

I've already mentioned director Steve McQueen, and he is probably the primary reason to why this movie works so well. McQueen was a visual artist before he became a film director, and those skills work wonderfully in his favor during 12 Years a Slave. He frames shots with unparalled mastery and precision, ranging from a wide shot of dozens of slaves carefully picking cotton out of a field, to an intense closeup of the broken Solomon's face, expressing more words than simple dialogue ever could. There's a wonderful variety to the artistry of McQueen's shots, and it keeps things interesting and engaging (for the most part). However, the most noticable and impressive aspect of McQueen's direction are his long, almost never ending takes during the picture's most powerful, horrifying moments. Mainly two scenes in particular, one involving a tree, and the other a whip, McQueen holds long, uncut takes for what seems like hours and hours, and while this had the potential to come off as pretentious and heavy handed, instead, it's starkly powerful, and these are two of the most powerful scenes I think I've ever seen in my life. And while the majority of the film is a rather heartbreaking ordeal, McQueen (and of course, screenwriter John Ridley) don't forget to inject the film with moments of hope hear and there, and it's always effective. Speaking of John Ridley, much credit goes to him as well for creating (well, mostly adapting since this is based on Solomon Northup's own memoir) powerful scene, after powerful scene. Not only that, but each character is incredibly fleshed out from Solomon, to the kind yet cowardly slave owner William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), the terrifying and heartless slave owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender, in a verocious, stunning performance), his equally terrible wife (Sarah Paulson) the tortured, beautiful Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) and of course our eyes and ears, Solomon Northup. Ridley reaches a vital place with each character where you really understand their motivations, mindset, fears, hopes, etc. He also does a brilliant job at exploring deeply religious themes involving faith and god's will, without EVER feeling heavy handed or religiously bias. The characters faith (or not faith) in god is such an important aspect to this film, and Ridley sticks with this theme from the early beginning, to the near end. The characters have (thankfully) interesting, thought provoking dialogue that gives the audience something to ponder over and contemplate about after the credits roll. But, as much as I did appreciate Ridley's well crafted script, it's also where my main problems with the film lie. Something I never would imagine would've been a problem with a film like this is its pace. 12 Years a Slave was, of course, going to be a slow film, but I was surprised that I was a little bored during short periods of its run time. Mostly pertaining to the films middle section, some of it meanders along, with nothing of great importance happening at all. I understand why Ridley wanted to do this, to display the monotonous quality of this kind of lifestyle, but it left me unintersted in certain parts, which is not a good sign during a movie about SLAVERY, a topic of great, great interest. Of course, these are not very big problems, but I wonder if I'm the only who thinks this. Mind you though, this is a consitently captiavting and engrossing film, there were just a few select moments that I found a little uninteresting. However, these are minor gripes to give to an incredibly made, highly important film.

Now let's talk about another highlight of the movie, the unbelievable performances from its fantastic ensemble cast. Chiwetl Ejiofor is an absolute revelation, giving one of the most honest, emotional, and moving performances in recent years as Solomon. I have never seen an actor use his expressions, his eyes, his face, his posture, with such feeling and depth. Ejiofor doesn't have very much dialogue in the film, so his entire performance is resting on the emotion he can create without saying a word, and its absolutely brilliant. The 5 nominees for best actor at the Oscars this year are all fantastic, but I really wouldn't mind if Ejiofor went home with the Oscar come March. I don't think its going to happen since the current favorite is Matthew Mcconaughey for Dallas Buyers Club (which I have not seen yet), but Ejiofor gives the type of performance that will be discussed by film fans alike for years and years to come. One of my favorite actors, Michael Fassbender gives maybe the most unlikeable performance of his career as the truly evil plantation owner Edwin Epps. This man is an embodiment of every godless, terrible, despicable white slave owner during the 18-19th centuries and Fassbender disappears into the role, taking what could've been a one dimensional villain, and creating a character full of anger, fear, lust, and hatred. He is equally deserving of a best supporting actor win, even though it will probably go to Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club. Despite the astonishing performances given by these two wonderful actors, the movie belongs to Lupita Nyong'o who plays one of the most tragic characters in a long time, the young, beautiful Patsey. Epps is deeply in love with Patsey and she becomes the object of his affection and his hatred. Nyong'o's performances encompasses the full scale of emotions. Hope, sadness, anger, desperation, fear, happiness, and many others, Patsey is easily the most complex and interesting character of the piece, thanks in no small part to the the skill of Nyong'o's raw, riveting performance. The supporting cast is astonishing as well with Paul Giamatti as another evil and heartless slave trader, Benedict Cumberbatch (who is quickly becoming one of the most popular actors in Hollywood) as the compassionate yet cowardly slave owner William Ford, Paul Dano as his carpenter; the ruthless, fearful Tibbets, Sarah Paulson (who is absolutely amazing, in a performance that should've garnered her awards consideration) as Epps' angry, heartless wife, and Brad Pitt as Bass, a Canadian abolitionist. I will say, seeing Brad Pitt near the end of the film was really strange, since having this big star in this very non Hollywood film felt painfully out of place. He's hardly in the film, and he's perfectly fine in his role, but I just felt that was unnecessary, out of place casting.

Despite the fact that I have a few gripes with the film, I still think it should be required viewing for pretty much everyone, because what McQueen has accomplished is something of monumental importance and significance. This is no "Song of the South" slavery sugarcoating, or "Gone With the Wind" BS or Django Unchained fun revenge flick (even though that film does do a good job of showing some horrible acts of slavery. I'm not criticizing that film, Django is fantastic. Anyway, back to the topic at hand). This is slavery, in its brutal, terrible, horrifying, unforgivable glory. If anyone in the world still tries to defend slavery as simply "a peculiar institution" I don't know what to say to you. Well what I will say is "Watch this film. That'll shut you up." This one of the darkest, most shocking situations in world history and the fact that it took a filmmaker this long to REALLY present it, holding nothing back, is a bit concerning. Nonetheless, a filmmaker has done it and he, and the entire production team, should be greatly respected and admired for that. This was no easy task. McQueen and Ridley had to present the facts without holding anything back, while attempting not to feel manipulative or overly emotional. Despite its numerous Oscar nominations, this is no "Oscar bait" movie. It's so, so honest, and all of its emotional feeling and resonance is 100% natural, and completely earned. This is a timeless story, even more timeless because slavery still exists in our world today. To experience this film, and try to fathom how forms of this STILL EXIST TODAY, is (a word I've used quite often this reviewing) terrifying. In short, despite the fact that I don't think its the American masterpiece that many seem to think, it would be a disservice not to see this film.

Also, many of you are probably going to have to see when it becomes required viewing in APUSH. But this is no ordinary history class movie. This is artistic, nuanced, well crafted filmmaking, and Steve McQueen is going to have the license to make WHATEVER HE WANTS for his next film, I'm sure of it.

I give 12 Years a slave a very, VERY strong B+