Review: 12 Years a Slave

12 yrs

WORDS PAUL CASHELL

Although many may hate the idea, lots of us can’t help but to compare Django Unchained and 12 years a slave. Two large productions taking the difficult issue of American Slavery on by the horns. Some readers may be horrified by the suggestion that Quentin Tarantino had more to add to the discussion on slavery than Steve McQueen through their respective films on the topic, but gravitas and high drama do not alone a masterpiece make. 12 Years a Slave is a high profile production with incredible pedigree; an all-star cast featuring Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, and powerful yet subtle leading man Chiwetel Ejiofor. Steve McQueen’s technical direction is perfectly enjoyable and gets engaging performances out of all his cast. The film is grand, in every sense of the word. The overall feeling this film leaves the viewer with is ”slavery was horrible”. An emotionally draining, true to life portrayal of slavery played as high drama, with Shakespearean overtones in both the dialogue and character interactions clocking  in at just above 2 hours; 12 Years a Slave is quite the journey.

Sadly, the story told in 12 Years a Slave is riddled with missed opportunities, cinematically speaking.The blame for this can only lie at the feet of the person telling the story, Steve McQueen. The director seems at pains to remind us that this is a true story, the story of Solomon Northup, a wealthy and free musician who lives in Saratoga New York with his family until one day he is drugged, kidnapped and sold into the southern slave market. There, he faces terrible deprivation and suffering along with his fellow slaves at the hands of his masters and their oversee-ers. The story of Solomon’s odyssey is not a Hollywood story, where characters grow and learn lessons and pay for mistakes and close character arcs in satisfying fashions. However, as mentioned in a short post-script just before the credits, Solomon spent his post slave life fighting for abolition and for justice regarding his personal experiences. He never got any justice for himself; clearly the Northern U.S. States were not all that equal as they claimed to be. If Solomon’s life was what this film wanted to relate, why not take on the part of his story that had more substance, more powerful messages about the impact of racial inequality on society as a whole?

The real sin here is that it’s clear that McQueen is fully aware of the most interesting aspects of this story. The systematic dehumanisation of slaves, the conflict between moral and state law, levels of culpability amongst the profiteers of slavery; they’re all touched upon with a scene each, but then hurriedly ushered out and checked off a list to get us to another whipping scene. McQueen had a duty, as a smart and talented director, with an all star cast , to add to the discussion on American slavery. Instead , he opted to tell the most basic story of human cruelty found in Solomon’s life while leaving the challenging, difficult aspects to a post script .

Solomon Northup’s stirring motivation in 12 years a slave seems to be summed up in the line prominently shown in most trailers  “I don’t want to survive, I want to live” spoken in transit to his new life. A prime example of this movie’s broken storytelling is that after this line is spoken there is no evidence that this is what informs Solomon’s character. It remains just an empty sentiment in a film that begs for your outrage. It’s frustrating to have a plot raise your expectations for satisfying story points only to leave you watching yet more footage of human cruelty until some random white man (Brad Pitt) intervenes and brings the story to a satisfying close. That’s deus-ex-machina, and that’s bad story telling.

It’s unnerving to level such criticism at a film that is clearly a powerhouse in many aspects; the acting is emotive while incredibly subtle, the dialogue can be poetic at turns (if not laden with exposition) and we get to see great actors interpret great characters. Going back to the earlier comparison, I felt the same way about Django Unchained, and Django wasn’t hesitant to talk about unsettling and hidden aspects of slavery, even if it was done in a more flamboyant style. Most who see this film will leave satisfied having got what they came for, but it has to be said that this film is not the raving cinematic success its pedigree should have guaranteed.a

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