Watched: 12 Years A Slave
It’s difficult to talk about a film like this. It’s a film that subjects you to so many horrors that when they finally lift, you can’t help but break down at the sight of it. In terms of plot, it’s entirely different, but regarding the emotional formula it fits well with Captain Phillips, another film about dealing with brutality pragmatically, only to break down completely the moment you’re safe. It’s harrowing, and powerful, and extremely difficult to watch.
This is probably Steve McQueen’s best film, though it’s an altogether different one to Shame or Hunger in its scope - this film condenses twelve years into two hours, and manages to do so by focusing intensely on Solomon Northup’s institutionalisation. The more horrifying areas of this film are not the moments of violence, but the so-called “nice” slaveholders. There’s a scene where Benedict Cumberbatch’s William Ford hands Northup a violin with the heartfelt line “I hope this brings us both great pleasure”, and the tenderness of the scene is so horribly overshadowed by the fact that Northup has only recently lost his freedom that it feels far more sinister than anything Michael Fassbender’s alcoholic brute does or says.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is remarkable - he never overplays his role, and says more with his expressions than words can convey. This is particularly important in a film like this, where the supposed ideal of a slave was one who kept quiet; even as he is brutalized into submission, he’s never overshadowed by the supporting cast.
As for its social place, there’s no doubt that this is one of the most important films made about slavery; it repositions the experience of slaves (or, in this case, one particular slave) as the central concern. This is so important - there’s a tendency in films with a historical basis to place those doing the subjugating front and center, even as the narrative is condemning them, but to do so ignores and objectifies the people being subjugated. This film still condemns, and does so in a way that recognises and attacks the wider culture of the time rather than creating monsters in isolation. It’s careful, and brilliant.
I do have one criticism of this movie, and it comes down to Hans Zimmer’s score. Since Inception, there are some musical lines of Zimmer’s that he’s partially reused, and while there are enough differences here and a little more variation to make it count as a new film, there were too many uncomfortable moments where I couldn’t help but think “oh, that sounds like Inception”. The tendency of Steve McQueen in the past has been to pull back the music and give the actors room to breathe - occasionally, here, the score felt a little oppressive.
But other than that, what a film. Overwhelming, to say the least.