12 Years A Slave
Director: Steve McQueen
By Alex Watson
Steve McQueen will forever hold a place in history on this blog as it was his movie Shame that became the first ever movie reviewed here! Well this week I returned to the place where it all started, at the Cornerhouse cinema in Manchester to watch his new piece of cinema, 12 Years A Slave. Based on the true story Solomon Northrup, this again will make for tough yet compelling viewing!
Born a free man, Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a talented violin player living with his wife and children in Saratoga, New York. But when he approached by two ‘entertainers’ who lure him to Washington in the promise of a lucrative gig! Only he then finds himself drugged and sold into a life of slavery! Facing great hardship, Solomon must learn to think smart to stay alive, particularly when facing his cruel master Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).
12 Years A Slave is movie that deserves the unanimously positive praise that has been heaped upon it, and in the hands of McQueen we are given a fascinating look a man literally stripped of his identity and cast into a terrifying new world! But those expecting an uplifting and rousing tale of the human spirit need to be prepared for a few shocks, as McQueen demonstrates the full barbarity of slave life, and for this no stone is left un-turned. In one particularly horrific scene, we see Solomon semi lynched and left to hang from a tree for several minutes while several people come and go!
The life of Solomon is a bruising tale and this is made obvious when he wakes up in shackles after being tricked by the two entertainers, shortly after this while protesting his freedom, he finds himself being slapped by a slave trader (Paul Giamatti) and told his name is now ‘Platt’. Life initially life is good under his first kindly master, Paul Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), who seems to relish his knowledge and gives more duties to him. But when a ‘disagreement’ with racist carpenter Jimmy (Paul Dano) turns nasty, his life is thrown into turmoil!
From here, 12 Years A Slave is given a dramatic shake up by the introduction of the heinous ‘slave breaker’ Edwin Epps, a slave owner who sees it as his biblical right to flog his slaves, which in one disturbingly memorable scene is shown to us, and we view the bloody effects it has soon the human body! For this the head honcho takes pride in his work! Epps is a highly complex man, with a severe drinking problem and a fiery temper! But he seems to have immense compassion for slave girl Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o), which continually puts him at odds with his jealous wife (Sarah Paulson). Solomon soon learns that to survive this man, he must play dumb to stay alive!
In the midst of all the harsh realities, McQueen does inject occasional moments of beauty with such simple thing like shots of the surrounding New Orleans swamp lands. But ending given is wonderfully under played and McQueen opts for as less sentiment as possible and the intense close up on the pained expression of Solomon us worth more than any grandiose speech that could have been prepared!
Performance wise, Chiwetel Ejiofor is given a role that finally allows him to shine as a leading actor and after years of being capable supporting folly in movies like Inside Man and Love Actually, Ejiofor effortlessly carries the movie and becomes its emotional soul!
Michael Fassbender earns top honours in the supporting category and his role as monstrous slaver Epps is scene stealingly brilliant. But more skillfully, Fassbender gives the man a thinly veiled sense of humanity amidst his racist self hating. But its newcomer Lupita Nyong’o who really steals our hearts as the tormented Patsey who throughout shows an immense commitment to her role and seems odds on to be a favourite comes awards ! Also Brad Pitt crops up in a brief but very relevant appearance as Canadian abolitionist Saul.
It may some times be a tough sell, but 12 Years A Slave is one of the more fervidly emotional and real dramas we are likely to view in 2014 and thankfully in the hands of McQueen and Ejiofor, we are given a journey to remember- maybe see you again at the Cornerhouse Steve? Though I need a word about your reaction to my Hunger question!
Closer to the Edge 