12 Years A Slave Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: 12 Years A Slave

Year: 2013

Director: Steve McQueen

Country: UK

Language: English

Over the last few decades Hollywood has made a mockery out of slavery.  In 2010 Oscar nominated The Help turned the terrifying black plight into a light hearted comedy.  Most recently middle aged white Director Quentin Tarantino turned a very dark time in American history into a revenge fantasy spaghetti Western complete with a modern hip hop score, this abomination was called Django Unchained. Thankfully the historical period has been saved by Steve McQueen (Shame) with his newest film 12 Years a Slave. 

McQueen’s picture is based on the astonishing true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), he is a free black man from upstate New York during pre-civil war times.  One day he is betrayed by some friends, abducted and then sold into slavery. Solomon not only struggles not only to survive his situation, but to maintain his humanity as well. 

12 Years a Slave is the Passion of the Christ of slavery films. It is honest, brutal in its depiction of violence and all about suffering. It exposes the true nature of slavery, not once sugar-coating it to appeal to the masses. The camera is unrelenting when showing the savagery of the slave owners and physical torture the slaves go through. During the middle of the film Solomon is hung from a rope and the shot goes on for a full 5 minutes, making an emphatic statement about his desperate situation. For her crime of fetching a bar of soap in order to rid herself of her own unbearable stench, a young slave girl by the name of Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) is tied to a wooden post and relentlessly whipped, she screams in pain the entire time 

McQueen’s film is very hard to watch, but perhaps it is because the reality of what truly happened is hard to face. The acting in this picture is remarkable; Michael Fassbinder’s depiction of a cruel slave owner is shocking, he truly makes you hate him. Chiwetel Ejiofor creates a fragile character who you desperately wish survives this seemingly endless hell. 

In conclusion, expect 12 Years a Slave to be nominated for many Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but win very few. The powers that be would rather keep making masturbatory white-guilt films than give McQueen, a powerful black director, the credit he deserves. Watch this film and show that intelligent films regarding race do matter. 

Praise it! 5/5