Steve McQueen’s film 12 Years a Slave has been pegged as a must-see, but the truth is the film hard to watch.
McQueen’s adaptation of Solomon Northup’s memoir dramatizes the horrors of slavery through the eyes of a free black man kidnapped and held in captivity for more than a decade.
In 1841, Northup and his family were enjoying a comfortable life in upstate New York. As a classically trained violinist, his talent and prestige earned the Northup family dignity and respect.
Then, a chance encounter and an offer too good to refuse resulted in Northup being lured to Washington, D.C. and illegally sold into slavery.
Northup’s experience bore a striking resemblance to that of the Africans who were forced from their homeland and sold in America. He was stripped of his identity, torn from his family and subjected to brutality and inhumane living conditions.
Upon arrival in the South, he was renamed Platt and came to be known as an illiterate slave from Georgia with a knack for playing the fiddle. He quickly understood that being compliant was his only means for survival.
12 Years a Slave tells this story visually, with slaves crying out as they are bought and sold like livestock, enduring backbreaking labor in the cotton picking, and suffering unspeakable violence at the hands of vicious masters and overseers.
In his screenplay, John Ridley presents cruel paradoxes from the age of slavery.
Masters provided worship services featuring intentionally misconstrued Bible passages that, they believed, justified their actions. Girls forced to endure sexual torture won a special place in the hearts of the masters who lusted for them – even more so than their wives. And yet, these same men beat the slave girls within an inch of their lives.
12 Years a Slave benefits from compelling performances. Chiwetel Ejiofor is breathtaking in his portrayal of Solomon/Platt. He spirals from a man of dignity to a broken shell with his mind set only on staying alive.
Lupita Nyong’o’s portrayal of Patsey, the unwilling apple of her master’s eye, is astonishing. One can’t help but ache for her as she longs for Platt to aid her, only to learn there is no scope for heroism in his world.
Michael Fassbender leaves a haunting impression as slave owner Edwin Epps. He nails the conflicts, contradictions and evil as he transitions between rage and lust while constantly referring to his Christian principles.
One of the few downsides to the ensemble cast was producer Brad Pitt’s perfunctory cameo as an abolitionist.
Through 12 Years a Slave, audiences will see the ugliest chapter in American History plainly stated. African Americans in particular can bear witness to their ancestors being denied the most basic human rights. Even as a free man, Northup’s liberty was vulnerable simply because he was black.
At time, some will shield their eyes or turn their heads from the horror. But Northup’s first-hand experience of slavery from a formerly free man’s point of view is thought-provoking. Viewers will be forced to confront the past and pose the question: What would I have done?
Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” opens in theatres nationwide on Friday, November 1. The film is rated R with a running time of 133 minutes.
