English angle of American black slavery

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2014)

While black English director Steve McQueen can boast of a proliferation of "shorts", he has only made two feature movies prior to "12 years": "Hunger" (2008) an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike and "Shame" (2011) a portray of a contemporary man living in New York with a predicament of inability to manage his liferelationships and sex in particular. Both have received acclaims for their artistic achievement. For his third feature, McQueen moves to American black slavery. On this heavy subject matter, the recent "Django unchained" (2012) by Quentin Tarantino is, well, very "Tarantino" i.e. a fairytale of dark humor achieving the impossible of making such a movie conventionally entertaining.
McQueen's own rendition is based on the titular true story about how a free black man, reasonably comfortable financially and socially (to the extent possible), was abducted, stripped of his true identity, and sold to be a slave. Details of the actual events over the 12 years, meticulously depicted in the movie, I see no point to recount. If I were to try, in no time at all I would have exhausted my limited supply of adjectives – atrocious, brutal, ruthless, cruel, painful, heartbreaking etc – and still fall far short of what is needed.
The opening scene, with ominous strings (especially the cello) in the background, shows Solomon Northup being lined up with other new arrivals at a plantation and lectured on the job of cutting sugar cane. The flashback, the real start of the story, delivers brisk narratives of his happy life with his family (wife and two kids) and his two-week assignment with a travelling circus as an entertainer utilizing his acclaimed skill at the violin. One shot has him enjoying a sumptuous dinner and champagne in celebration of a successful tour, while the next one abruptly cuts to his waking up in a dungeon in manacles. He is waking up, but it is where the true nightmare begins.
By the way, the spoken language used, sounding strange today, is intended to reflect the period from 1841 to 1853. For example, close to the end of the movie, after hearing the protagonist's sad story, the sympathetic listener (played by none other than Brad Pitt) comments: "Your story is amazing, in a no-good way".
Chiwetel Ejiofor is an actor that I have noticed 10 years ago, in Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda". He has since appeared in a number of major motion pictures in roles that progressively made him a familiar face to the audience. In "12 years a slave" he finally lands a role that is sufficiently compelling for an Oscar bid. He has already won BAFTA but with such a strong field in Oscar it is one exciting race. We will find out in less than two days.
The supporting cast is no less than stellar. In order of appearance, we have Paul Giamatti, a brief cameo role, as the slave trader who sells Northup to his first master. That one is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who now needs no introduction. The character he portrays is a sympathetic plantation owner who, unfortunately because of his own financial plague, is unable to help Northup when the crunch comes. The villain is Paul Dano, directors' top choice for playing offbeat, neurotic, psychopathic and any of the other variations of weird personas. In this movie, it is a sadistic plantation supervisor whose passion is to put Northup through something worse than death.
What appears to be a rescue, being sent to a new owner, turns out to be the worst nightmare. Michael Fassbender is another character actor that needs no introduction. His portrayal of a fiendish plantation owner that performs evil acts while quoting the Scripture has won him a Best Supporting Oscar nomination. On the subject, while not in the stellar category, Lupita Nyong'o playing a fellow slave struggling under unspeakable suffering has won a supporting award in Critics' Choice and will be having her taste of Oscar competition.
The last, but certainly not least, stellar appearance I have already alluded to. Brad Bitt plays a Canadian contract constructor who was instrumental to carrying the message to "the North" that finally led to Northup's rescue. I acknowledge the joy of seeing Brad Pitt, but must say that in my mind, rather than seeing a character named "Bass" coming to deliver Northup from 12 years of hellish nightmare, I see BRAD PITT!