I will not give in to despair.

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2013)

Steve McQueen's previous work, Hunger, and Shame, both demonstrated his ability to create films that capture a unique rawness most films rarely show. The characters are never portrayed within a black and white context of this person being good or bad. The world McQueen often portrays in each of his films, although different within each approach has that authenticity that places him within the same intellectual status of filmmakers as daring as Paul Thomas Anderson and Nicolas Winding Refn. Although 12 Years a Slave's trailer, within its presentation gives an inspirational feeling of glory, that is merely a delusion. The story of Solomon Northrup is tragic and brutal, the film depiction of it is real enough to belittle and discourage the concept of hope most people will attempt to draw in the turmoil of such unabridged suffering.
Born a freeman and prosperous with a family, Solomon Northrup's (Ejiofor) story is played out within the twelve year period of his enslavement, as he is lured into what was believed to be a promising business deal. Being skilled with the fiddle, Northrup was invited to Washington D.C. to play for a pair of white gentlemen, trusting completely and never suspecting the treachery they bestowed upon the kindness and gratitude he expressed. Drugged and bedridden, Solomon awakens in a pair of chains, claiming his status as free, only to be beaten and humiliated as though he were more of a beast than a person.
Not long after an uncensored and grotesque torture scene, Solomon is sold as Platt, from one slave owner onto another. Beginning with the Baptist preacher William Ford (Cumberbatch), Solomon survives with what straightforward modesty among the kindness he sees in this current master, hoping that his generosity can deliver him the hope of seeing his family once more. After a few bouts with Ford's jealous and equally uneducated carpenter, Tibets (Dano), Solomon is sent to work for another master. Despite his pleas for Ford to see his innocence, little does it do him for that hope will soon disappear through the brutal hatred that slavery had inspired in many American's as they justified the prospect of human beings as property. Be it through scientific or divine principles.
The determination that Michael Fassbender exemplifies within Edwin Epps, is both brilliant and equally despicable to feel repulsion. Hateful, snide, racist, and even rarely kind enough to find intriguing in his malicious nature. Solomon's purity stands the many obstacles thrown at him. A young girl named Patsey (Nyong'o) becomes the subject of suffering as she embodies the object of Epp's sexual desires, and the focus of his wife's hatred. Sarah Paulson's calm and almost puppet like expression captures an appalling apathy of despair as she demonstrates a more silent, but inhumane brutality among Patsey. In fact, the portrayal of torture in this film is shown to the authentic extent that it does not hide one essence of its straightforward depiction. The scenes are long, and edited to the degree that McQueen wants nothing more but to show audiences what he feels is an honest and direct approach to telling the story of Northrups survival.
Sadly, survival does not come easy, nor does it often seem possible. If anything the story told here is never given an inspirational standards of positivity. The close-up shots of the character's faces embody both their despair as well as their desire for hope. Even after their fellow brother or sister has had the earth closed upon them do they tearfully sing in the hope for a better end. It really is sad to say that these raw scenes are merely shown as they are meant to be, giving no hope of the sort. The conclusion of the story is known through the written history of Northrup's memoir "Twelve Years a Slave", and upon reuniting with his family, the moment is presented with more tragedy than relief. The final endnotes give little indication of justice, as Northrup fails to punish those who condemned him to what many slaves would consider eternal punishment, and his own whereabouts remain a mystery.
Twelve Years a Slave is both powerful and moving. Although it forsakes any inspirational themes in its technique, it really focuses that primarily within the performance Chiwetel Ejiofor gives when capturing the sadness and the determination of this forsaken individual. An equal amount of praise can be given to the dark and evil depiction Fassbender delivers in what is for me his first menacing role. The direction of this film is never dull, nor does it give you the idea of a meaninglessness, although a lot else should be said for the suffering many slaves had endured during the trial now being labeled "America's Holocaust". A period piece in its own historical standard, and a drama, Twelve Years a Slave is both sad, but amazing in the daring vision that McQueen tackles, never holding back, nor even dumbing it down to more sensitive viewers. The film through its authentic tone of brutality manages to penetrate the more conventional American Slavery drama. It does not over exaggerate within the conception of the characters, nor does it hesitate to portray them as stereotypes. It simply brings out both the good and the bad qualities that shape them, thus giving this film a rare and challenging aura that further elevates the potential Steve McQueen embodies as a film maker.