"Do we need to see this?"

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2014)

From "acclaimed director of challenging films" Steve McQueen comes the tale of Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery, and the titular 12 years of torment he subsequently endured.
The story survived in the form of a sometimes chillingly proper and polite autobiography that leaves a lot to the imagination. A perfect a fit as McQueen could hope for, given his short but powerful track-record of conveying a lot through an almost minimalist approach to filmmaking. His is an unflinching, yet often graceful eye (rather than the perversely voyeuristic poking of, say, Von Trier), so you'd be forgiven for at first staying clear of this film with the apprehension that it might be unbearable to endure. Slavery-film fatigue would be an understandable first reaction. And yet
It's probably safe to say that few things can prepare you for this film, but not in the ways you'd fear. Being the product of a mostly non-American cast and a black, non-American director frees it of any handicapping guilt, and allows 12 Years A Slave to use slavery not as an end in itself, but mere legal context to the tolerance of cruelty. The very nature of the plot helps in this regard too, and in retrospect one of the most chilling aspects of the story is that so many characters are outraged by protagonist Solomon's plight not because he is a human being entitled to dignity, but because he is "illegally acquired". With the exception of Brad Pitt's slightly distracting cameo, the same noble whites who would save Solomon do not spare a second glance at his fellow slaves, the latter born into their condition. On the intellectual plane, the film gives us something new. That is not to say that it isn't brutal, it is. Often viscerally so.
While it's fair to say that on paper at least, the film presents one of the most genuine meditations on the subject of abusive servitude ever passed off as entertainment. That leaves us with execution, and this is where things arguably become even more impressive.
Steve McQueen was reportedly cheered at the Director's Guild Awards when, in response to a question, he said he shot the whole film in little over a month, with only one camera. Take it how you will, there is no denying the man's virtuoso levels of economy, each of the many extended shots stretched to unnerving lengths: for all the technical prowess of some of the choreography, in a year where Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity threw us through space in 3D for 14 minutes with no cut in sight, the most memorable shot of 2013 was an unbearable wide shot of Solomon hanged to a tree, gasping for air, toes barely touching the ground, for what feels like an eternity.
And if his technical mastery of his craft is at this point beyond question, his coaching of his cast more than rises to the occasion. It's a career-landmark role for Chiwetel Ejiofor, for obvious reasons, but as a mostly reactive protagonist he is at the mercy of his co-stars. Thank God for Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender. The former earns the golden statuette the hard way, while the later throws everything he has into one of the vilest creatures ever to grace the screen. There are other, dependable known faces in the mix: Benedict Cumberbatch (a ubiquitous institution these days it seems), Paul Giamatti and Alfre Woodard. Of the supporting cast Paul Dano and Sarah Paulson provide an extra edge. The only bum note is Brad Pitt's too-progressive-to-be-true foreign contractor, robbing the film of perfection by a narrow margin. The role might be pure investor gratitude, but then one must face the fact that without Pitt's initial backing the film as a whole might never have seen the light of day.
Looking through the message boards, there's a lot of dialogue about the film from many who have not seen it, and are either hesitant or downright hostile to it. To the latter category, who often ask "why do we need to see this", I would say the following: beyond the fresh elements it brings to an old issue, it remains a film, and as such, it is a masterclass in direction, in storytelling economy, and in pure tension.
Damn right you need to see this.