A visceral film

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2014)

Steve McQueen returns with "12 Years a Slave" after the masterful "Shame" and while it is not as complex a subject matter as the latter, it is just as visceral nonetheless.
The film narrates the harrowing story of Solomon Northup portrayed adeptly by Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Red Belt") who is kidnapped and forced into slavery. His trials and tribulations of 12 long years as a slave are just about enough to strip a man of all that remains of him to identify himself with the person he was before. Reduced to the lowest form of existence at the behest of scriptures in the name of imaginary deities and inhumanity perhaps only surpassed by likes of Auschwitz, the story deals with one man's struggle to not to give in to despair when a single act of perceived insolence could result in a swift death, or worse still, an unbearable existence.
The film is an all too painful reminder of the darker times that humanity as a species has overcome, but still has many ways to go before we can claim to be truly civilized. Oppression and abject subjugation comes naturally to the powerful, especially when armed with the purported word of a barbaric god and this is truer now than ever.
Steve McQueen's directorial style is bereft of any gimmickry and relies heavily on his actors to bring the characters to life by cutting to long close-up shots. This works thanks to some magnificent performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender, the latter with each performance turning out to be one of the finest actors of our generation. This film is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those who take the world as it is for granted, and forget what it takes to overcome our intrinsic barbarism to earn our humanity. 8/10