Solomon Northup's Story is Full of Tension, Anxiety and Raw Emotion

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2014)

From the moment Steve McQueen's Solomon Northup biopic 12 Years a Slave begins, we get the uneasy feeling that the inevitable is going to occur. Solomon is introduced to what seems to be a lucrative offer from two D.C. Circus men. Naturally, Northup accepts the offer as an opportunity to travel and do what he loves—play the violin, and it's paid. What more could you ask?
Sooner than later he is eventually turned over to the South and handed to the Slave Trade, which unfortunately displaces him from anywhere relatively close to his home for twelve years.
The beauty of this film lies within the cinematography of Sean Bobbitt and the acting of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o as well as the entire cast and crew. With certain scenes, comes powerful narrative story telling through the art of editing and shot composition. When tension is high, and you are inherently uncomfortable, waiting for the scene or shot to cut or end; it doesn't. McQueen even manages to leave us hanging, literally, on a long take while Northup struggles to break free from the rope barred around his neck attempting to end his life.
The scenes continue to line up a sense of irony with beautiful landscapes and rich textures with predominately white houses, and earthly attires. Which is ironic because of the contradiction it creates against the characters—there is nothing pure about Fassbender's Edwin Epps character, in fact he is perhaps the epitome of evil. There is nothing beautiful or pure like the colors represent about slavery to begin with. It is a great device that shows how hypocritical the characters can be.
12 Years a Slave does a remarkable job at keeping you emotionally attached and hopeful that, eventually Northup will escape, and make it home. And when that moment finally arrives we sympathize with him in a way that allows us to feel just slightly what it was like to endure such a struggle in an America brazen with extraordinary racial tensions.