The worst thing to ever happen to man is man, proven time and time again. This is essential cinema, read on to find out why!
Okay folks, sorry for the
ridiculous delay between posts. Things
have been a little bit crazy with Christmas and now Chinese New Year just
around the corner. So a lot of movie reviews to write and very little time to do it in.
Hope you enjoyed our year-end podcast special. Now let’s get on with this review.
Unless you’ve been enslaved
yourself over the last few months, chances are that you’ve heard of this
movie. Winning the Golden Globe for best
motion picture drama and now nominated for best motion picture Oscar 2014, it’s
not hard to see why.
Chiwetel Ejiofor (don’t ask
me how that’s pronounced) stars as Solomon Northup.
A true story based on the memoirs of the real
Solomon Northup set in 1841 when there was a very unusual dichotomy between
different American states. Black people
could be born free in New York, as indeed Solomon Northup was.
A respected, skilled carpenter and fiddle
player, he was given an opportunity to make some good money performing with a
circus while his wife and children were away.
Drugged and double-crossed, he wakes to find him self in chains. It soon becomes apparent that he has been
sold into slavery. We join Solomon
Northup as he endures a living hell, made all the more unbearable given that he
was once a free man. Many of the slaves
he meets along the way know no better, they are born into a life of
slavery. Having once known freedom to
then have it taken away from you; Solomon’s experience must have been all the
more devastating.
Forced to work on cotton
fields, under the permanent threat of violence and death, Solomon’s soul is crushed
repeatedly to a point where most men would have just given up and died.
His ownership changes hands several times
during the course of the 12 years, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch); the
reluctant slave keeper is the first.
It’s obvious he is torn between his duty as a slave keeper and his moral
compass of what is right and wrong.
Things reach their lowest under the ownership of Edwin Epps (Michael
Fassbender). An evil man who believes it
is his god given right to keep slaves.
Epps finds himself developing a perverted attraction to one of his female
slaves, Patsey played by the magnificent Lupita Nyong’o.
Will Solomon ever be reunited
with his family, or will his memoires and story be all that manages to find its
way out to the masses? Watch to find
out.
Enjoyed is not the right word
to use when talking about this movie. What
I should say is that this is a good movie, compelling cinema about a time in
history that we would rather forget. But
don’t forget, the beast that was slavery spanned a more than significant 400
years.
I had heard all manner of
things before I saw this movie. That
audiences were sickened by the brutal displays of violence, even if they were
toned down from the descriptions in Solomon’s book. With a powerful story and reports of
outstanding performances, of course I had high expectations. Were those expectations met? More or less I would say.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a
very good film and I would fully recommend it to anyone that is a fan of
serious powerful cinema. But for
whatever reason, it just fell shy of my expectations as did the impact it had
on me. I tried to explore why this might
be so. I think the answer lies in the
fact that the movie depicts true events, not events manufactured and strategically
crafted by Hollywood to evoke an emotional response, something which Hollywood
is a true expert at.
I did wonder why Solomon
never really tried to escape, would it be that hard? Over 12 years, was there really never an
opportunity to escape? Watching 12 Years
a Slave, you have to remind yourself that what you are watching is not just
cinema but also history. Only then can
you begin to comprehend the horror. This
is also why Solomon never turns into Rambo, kills all the bad guys and fights
his way to freedom.
I found the movie to be less
affecting and haunting than Django Unchained or The Shawshank Redemption, two
other movies about the limits of human suffering, perseverance and triumph
against the odds. Whereas 12 Years is
powerful because it’s true, Django and Shawshank were powerful because of how
they were written and directed. Django left
me thinking for days. Some of the
imagery that Tarantino managed to direct and capture, especially one specific
scene towards the end featuring Christoph Waltz, really affected me and
lingered on my mind uncomfortably for days.
Shawshank also managed to more effectively portray the duration of
suffering the lead protagonist had to endure.
In 12 Years I never felt like 12 years had actually passed, it felt more
like a terrible one year.
Django for me is a more
haunting and affecting tale of slavery, with 12 Years a Slave coming in a close
second. Shawshank, however, remains the
ultimate tale of human endurance.
This is an excellent and
powerful lesson in history, perhaps not the absolute best in terms of similarly
themed movies, but essential cinema nonetheless.
Highly recommended despite
Brad Pitt’s presence. Almost forgot to
mention him. Yes his character is a good
one, but his performance is still wooden and by the numbers.
Rating 4.5 out of 5
Bobby
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