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12 Years a Slave
| Released |
10 January 2014 |
| Director |
Steve McQueen |
Starring
|
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard, Quvenzhané Wallis, Michael K. Williams |
| Writer(s) |
John Ridley |
Producer(s)
|
Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad |
| Origin |
United States, United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
134 minutes |
| Genre |
Biography, drama, history |
| Rating |
15A |
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Look back in anger.
Steve McQueen is without doubt one of the most exciting directors working today. His short career has already produced two iron-clad classics in Hunger and Shame and his reputation as an unflinchingly honest filmmaker is beyond reproach. His latest film, 12 Years a Slave further cements this reputation - a powerful film about the horrors of the slave trade that never turns away from its most brutal humiliations.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is Solomon Northup, an educated Free Man living in Saratoga, New York with his wife and two children. A talented musician, he is well-known and respected in his community. With the promise of an attractive paycheck, Solomon travels to Washington with two men who claim to be on the lookout for musicians to play at their traveling cicus. Instead, these men drug him and sell him into slavery. Without proof of his free-born status, Solomon is shipped to New Orleans and sold into servitude.
McQueen’s films thus far have been preoccupied with issues of free-will and incarceration; quite literally in the case of Hunger and more metaphorically in Shame as the protagonist finds his free-will completely overthrown by his baser desires. Thematically then, 12 Years A Slave finds McQueen revisiting certain ideas but this time the canvas is exponentially bigger as he deals with one of Western societies darkest stains. Here, Solomon’s freedom is violently torn from him and he is faced with the choice between cooperation and death. The film not only explores the physical horror of slavery (several brutal scenes had me close to tears) but also how life in servitude can erode the humanity of both the slavers and the enslaved.
The intensity of the material is brought to life with some truly exceptional performances. Ejiofor gives a performance of incredible depth, creating the perfect portrait of a man torn apart by injustice and indignity. It is his film; but he is ably supported. Michael Fassbender and Sarah Paulson are both utterly reprehensible as plantation owner Edwin Epps and his wife - a warring couple united in their cruelty. Best of the lot though is newcomer Lupita Nyong’o whose performance as Patsey is almost unbearably tragic.
At times, 12 Years A Slave is almost unwatchably horrific; this is as it should be. The film stays with you long after the credits roll and will undoubtedly still be in people’s minds at the end of the year. An astounding and important achievement.
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Linda O’Brien |
