12 Years a Slave Review

Number 74 on the top 1000 films of all time is the absolutely tragic 12 Years a Slave.

Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Eijofar)  was once a free man until he is kidnapped and sold into slavery.  Over 12 years, he suffers brutal treatment as he works to once again become a free man.

I was prepared for my heart to be broken, but not for this.  Any film that engages with a topic as sensitive as slavery has to either go hard or go home and 12 Years a Slave goes unrelentingly hard.  It does complete justice to those living in slavery.  With what seems like frighteningly accurate realism, 12 Years a Slave portrayed the horrific things that slaves experienced.  It is very different to know what atrocities were done to them and to see it happen in front of you.  The film's portrayal of violence was sickening.  In the first fifteen minutes we see Solomon being beaten when he refuses to admit that he is no longer a free man.  However, worse than this is are the lynchings that punctuate the film.  Two of the film's most powerful scenes come from its portrayal of lynchings.

After Solomon gets into an altercation with a fellow plantation worker, he and two of his friends attempt to lynch Solomon.  He is only saved by virtue of the workers being caught and scared off by their boss.  However, instead of Solomon being let go, he is left hanging from the tree all day long.  He only survives by virtue of being tall enough that his toes can reach the ground.  What makes this film even more shocking is how he is in full view of the plantation.  The rest of the slaves clearly see that he is suffering and make no efforts to help him.  In fact he is treated as just part of the landscape.  To think that something as disgusting as lynchings could become so normal that they can be ignored is a horrible and disgusting thought.

Secondly, when Solomon half-heartedly tries to escape, he stumbles upon the lynching of two young black men.  When he realises he can do nothing to save them, he has to walk on as if nothing is happening.  This was just another painfully shocking reminder of the terrors that these men and women had to live through.  It is horrible to watch, but also important to remember.  A film like this cannot shy away from what it is portraying.  It has to face it head-on, which is exactly what it does.

I read a review on IMDB that argued that 12 Years a Slave is so powerful is that it gives an overarching perspective of slavery.  It doesn't just focus on how slavery affects Solomon, but also those around him.  It gives an objective view of slavery and allows the viewer to make up their own minds.  It doesn't romanticise slavery, which would be absurd and insulting, but neither does it demonise those involved.  After Solomon is sold into slavery, his first master is William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) Despite being involved in slavery, Ford is ultimately a good man.  At the same time as trying to buy Solomon, he also tries to buy a whole family of slaves to prevent the mother from being separated from her children.  However, he ultimately fails.  Yet even when he is on the plantation he still a decent man.  He reads scripture to his slaves, rewards Solomon with a violin and eventually sells him to another plantation owner to protect him.

Unfortunately, this second plantation owner is a horrible man.  Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) is a despicable man, yet due to Fassbender's great portrayal of him, I almost pitied the man.  Whilst it is obvious that he is a horrible person, it is also even more obvious that he is bullied and tormented by his manipulative bitch wife who is the true antagonist of the film.  When she suspects that Epps is cheating on her with the slave Patsy, (Lupita Nyong'o) she begins attacking Patsy, throwing things at her and scarring her face.

Eventually, she orders Epps to whip her.  Unable to do so, he defers the duty to Solomon.  Yet feeling emasculated in front of his wife, he eventually picks up the whip and does it himself.  Whilst he is a bad man, he is also a weak man who can easily be manipulated by those around him.  What makes the story even sadder is that he wasn't even having an affair with Patsy, rather he was raping her and she was in no position to protest.

This film was a technical masterpiece from the cinematography to the acting to the music.  The music is mainly diagetic: the characters can hear it themselves.  Much of the music are songs sung by the slaves themselves when they are working in the fields.  Other than sounding great rhythmically, strongly reminding me of gospel choirs, it also showed the spirit of the black slaves.  They found identity and community within music.  It was a way of showing solidarity to their white slave-masters. It was one of the more understated, but no less powerful moments of the film.


Lastly, I have to talk about Chiwetel Eijofar's brilliant performance.  He very much deserved the BAFTA he won.  He was utterly enthralling in his role.  You could tell that he felt every word he said and he gave it his absolute all.  His acting talent only made the film even more heart-breaking.

12 Years a Slave is a tragic film, which I don't think I could face watching again.  It is a traumatic reminder of what atrocities the human race are capable of and why we should fight to ensure that this never happens again.