Spoilers – I give away some details, not really that much of
the plot. It’s based on a true story, so history has again beaten you to
spoiling the movie. Serves you right for not having a time machine!
Toaster’s Contribution - Yesterday, I went by my lonesome to
see Oscar contending drama 12 Years a Slave. It wasn’t funny at all! The
previews lied to me! Not once did I see Johnny Knoxville dressed as an old man…
huh? Oh, I guess that was a different movie. What I actually saw was based on
the true story of Solomon Northup, a free African American living in upstate New York in the
pre-Civil War United States, who was abducted and sold into slavery in the
South. Wow, how did I get that confused with Bad Grandpa? My bad.
In all seriousness, 12 Years a Slave was a very good movie
but at the same time extremely difficult to watch. I think what made these
graphic scenes harder for me to watch than Paul Dano’s torture in Prisoners is
that this abuse actually happened. It was a matter of watching two hours of
sins from our nation’s past rendered in excruciating detail.
The cast was amazing, with appearances by Michael Kenneth
Williams, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Alfre Woodard and
Brad Pitt. Chiwetel Ejiofor was excellent as Solomon Northup. Before this film,
the most notable role I recognized him from was the bounty hunting bad guy in Serenity. He played the lead part in 12
Years a Slave with a buried passion. As a slave, survival came down to keeping
your mouth shut and doing what you were told. Ejiofor held that instinct
throughout, at the same time having allowed his anger and sadness to show
through, only occasionally erupting into rage or despair and making those
moments all the more powerful for it. He gave Solomon Northup a sustained quiet
dignity; having never completely lost his humanity to barbarians with whips and
never given up hope that he could be saved. I fully expect Chiwetel Ejiofor to receive
a Best Actor nomination from the Academy Awards and he has a damn good shot at
winning.
Then there is Michael Fassbender. Jonny Prophet and I love
Michael Fassbender. He is an amazing actor with considerable range and an
ability to seemingly lose himself in his roles. That said, Fassbender was a
truly scary and disturbing individual in 12 Years a Slave. He played Edwin
Epps, a cruel, alcoholic plantation owner with a penchant for brutality and a
tendency for outbursts of rage that gave his portrayal an unnerving sense of
instability. Remember when Leonardo DiCaprio talked about how evil his
character was in Django Unchained? Fassbender has him beat by a mile. Where
DiCaprio came across at times like an almost cartoonish villain, Fassbender consistently
felt real (and unfortunately was based on somebody real). Fassbender’s Epps was
a vicious, twisted man who truly felt that his slaves were nothing more than
property that he could beat, rape or kill as he pleased. As hate inspiring as
he was, Michael Fassbender’s performance was incredible and I would be shocked
if he didn’t receive at least a Best Supporting Actor nod.
When I brought up the excruciating detail part earlier? Not
an exaggeration. Director Steve McQueen (not the guy from Bullit) didn’t hold back. He would hold a shot to force the viewer
to feel uncomfortable and give us a sense of what it was truly like to be a
slave. It was highly effective to me. I had always wondered why more slaves
didn’t retaliate or attempt to escape. 12 Years a Slave made me see how
hopeless their plight truly was. There was nowhere to run.
The masterful direction didn’t stop there. McQueen kept filming
as a young woman was whipped nearly to death, at one point even seeing the
gruesome tears in the flesh from each lash (not sure how they got that shot, it
was pretty amazing in a cringe-worthy sort of way). In another scene,
plantation hands attempt to hang Northup. They are thwarted by the head
overseer, only on the grounds that they had no right to kill their employer’s
property. They lower Northup to the ground to just the point of his toes
reaching the ground and run away. Then, the head overseer leaves him there! The
audience is then treated to an excruciatingly long shot of Northup trying to
keep on his toes, constantly having to readjust due to the mud beneath him, to
avoid being strangled. All the while, other slaves go about their business, not
daring to intervene.
12 Years a Slave never once held back. The film showed us
the dehumanizing manner in which slaves were sold, essentially like livestock.
It posed the question of even if a plantation owner is kind, how good of a man
could he be to own slaves? Hell, I had never even considered the prospect that free
African American people in the North were being kidnapped and sold as slaves in
the South… sadly something that happened quite a bit.
I must warn you that if you are offended by the “N-word,”
you may want to avoid 12 Years a Slave. As historically accurate as the
vernacular was, if I had been playing a drinking game connected to that
offensive word I would have been drunk within 20 minutes. The film is graphic
and gruesome, but coming from a life of relative comfort, such jarring storytelling
is necessary to truly understand Northup’s and his people’s plight. 12 Years a
Slave was a great film and I am glad that I saw it. That said, I doubt I will
ever buy it. I just can’t imagine a time when I would ever want to pop in the
disc and relive the pain all over again.
Is it wrong that watching an overseer get whipped by a slave
makes me extraordinary happy? I’m just going to go ahead and say no.
Since Jonny Prophet was busy installing GPS into his killer
robot army, he wasn’t able to join me. However, I think I can provide a hypothesize
what his response would have been.
Jonny’s (probable) contribution – Blah, blah, blah Michael
Fassbender… something about Khan owning slaves… Glad to see Steve McQueen’s “Great
Escape” was a success… something about how birds were sent by Satan to steal
our souls… blah, blah, blah depressing sequel to Django Unchained.
Until the next review… Stay Strange
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