As I right this, Twelve
Years A Slave has this past week won the Golden Globe for the Best Picture
in the drama category. This will no doubt be the first of many awards that are
bestowed upon this film. Some said before it came out, that this was a clear
case of Oscar bait, based on a true story, a difficult subject and one that is
constantly a hot topic whenever it comes up.
Like last years Django
Unchained, which looked at slavery and racism a well but through
Tarantino’s stylistic sensibilities, it too raised a discussion and pushed it
to the front of people’s minds.
Twelve Years A Slave
is Steve McQueen’s third film, following Hunger
and Shame, two films about the suffering,
although in those two it was mainly about the suffering of men. But here, the
suffering is spread out equally, both men and woman suffer and at the hands of
fellow human beings.
The film follows the story of Solomon Northup, a free man in
New York, who is tricked and then sold into slavery. Taken to an auction and
then to two very different plantations and two very different owners/masters.
The plot is relatively straight forward, but gives us enough to keep the plot
going, as Solomon tries to free himself. This film is more interested on the
characters and rightly so.
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup is a powerhouse of
righteousness and strength, his battle to get back to his family is one of the
key focuses of the film, but the real central story, that Ejiofor gets spot on,
is the internal battle to never give up, but to survive and then live again. He
is regularly beaten and humiliated, but it is his unflinching need to be free
that keeps him going. For all the role could have been, it is played very
subtly, never becoming over the top or too loud. His pain and suffering is
internal and kept to himself, something we see when hope appears out of reach or
is lost.
Steve McQueen’s direction gives the film a very classical,
almost western like to the film. Giving us long shots of the world the characters
live in, mixed with the brutality of the lives of those trapped. One particular
scene, probably the scene that will stay with you long after the film ends, is
a botched lynching.
John Ridley’s script, based on the book of the same name by
Northup himself is a real triumph and gives everyone plenty to do. Expertly
filling out the supporting cast and bringing them to life, while the world and
time of the film would disagree, in the script, everyone is important.
A slave is hung from a tree, but can still just touch the
floor with his feet and is forced to keep himself elevated for hours. The shot
is well over a minute, but it isn’t the lynching that is the worse part of the
shot. More it is the reaction to the other slaves, who simply go on with their
lives. It is something that has happened before and will happen again. Its just
part of the world they are in now. That could be said to be the true horror of
the film.
It is a horrible subject and features some truly terrible
scenes of what people were and still are capable of doing to each other. But it
is made with such skill and restraint that it is hard to look away and miss a
second of this great film.
Director: Steve McQueen.
Writer: John Ridley (screenplay), Solomon Horthup (book).
