A movie every American must see

Rating: 9/10 (24 April 2014)

Steve McQueen's Oscar-winning masterpiece "12 Years a Slave" is one of the first movies about slavery to actually be told from the viewpoint of the slaves. I know that seems an odd thing to say, but Hollywood's past is littered with well-intentioned dramas that, driven by the need to appeal to the widest possible audience, have filtered their racially- charged stories through the eyes of sympathetic white characters, who are there not merely to right moral wrongs and to alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted, but to make the audience feel better about themselves, secure in the knowledge that THEY would surely never have participated in anything so vile or unjust had they been there at the time. Not that that aren't a few "decent" slave owners around - "decent" being but a relative term here - but those who made "12 Years a Slave" have no intention of letting the audience off the hook so easily. As Eliza - a woman who has had her two children cruelly ripped away from her and sold to someone else - points out to a fellow slave when he begins to describe the plantation master as a decent man, no person who buys and sells other human beings as property can ever be described as decent or good.
"12 Years a Slave" is based on the experiences of Solomon Northrup, a freeman living in New York who literally woke up one day in 1841 to find himself kidnapped, shackled and sold into slavery in the South. Northrup was an educated man, a farmer, a violinist, a husband and a father of two, but none of that was enough to protect him from the scourge of slavery that had imprisoned so many of his fellow black men and women in the country. Upon his eventual release, Northrup wrote a memoir entitled "12 Years a Slave," chronicling his years in captivity, which has now been adapted into an Oscar-winning screenplay by John Ridley.
Among other things, "12 Years a Slave" is probably the most honest and unflinching portrayal of the realities of slavery ever captured on film, a reality that regularly included rapes, lashings, lynchings, the rending of families, and the non-stop degradation and de-humanization - all sanctioned by society and codified into law - of a whole race of people.
On a broader scale, the movie also conveys what it was like having to live in a constant state of fear that a mere look, word or gesture - or even the slightest hint of self-defense or standing up for oneself or others - could result in a beating, a flogging or perhaps even death. It also shows what it was like being constantly at the mercy of some racist overseer's mood or whim, with no legal recourse or hope for justice - and the despairing belief that it would forever be thus. That is the world McQueen brings so vividly to life in "12 Years a Slave."
The movie also portrays how slaves were often forced to turn on each other to alleviate their own suffering or perhaps improve their own chances of survival.
In a highly risky but ultimately effective move, Ridley has chosen to provide dialogue whose elevated diction and syntactic complexity sounds vaguely strange to the modern ear. Even the uneducated slaves talk in this manner. It's a bit unsettling at first, but it underlines just how dedicated these filmmakers are to exploring the truth. Also unsettling is the harsh discordant horn that blares at various moments of intense suffering or high drama throughout the film.
As Solomon, Chiwetel Ejiofor has the difficult task of bringing depth and wisdom to a character who is forced by circumstances to be reticent and passive. Yet, Ejiofor, in many small and subtle ways, allows us to see the man of strength and determination lurking behind the servile exterior. In a relatively small role, Lupita Nyong'o made enough of an impression on the Academy to walk off with the Best Supporting Actress Oscar portraying a young slave named Patsey, who may have found "favor" with the plantation master but who's life has become a living hell as a result. There are excellent performances as well by Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Adepero Oduye, Alfre Woodard and Brad Pitt.
Because the movie IS so faithful to the brutal realities of slavery, it has earned the rather unfair reputation of being "too difficult to watch," a fact that may have limited the size of its potential audience both in theaters and at home. Let me just say that, for all its harshness, "12 Years a Slave" is no more violent or "unwatchable" than any number of movies or TV shows from now or the recent past. Not by a long shot. In fact, I can think of at least a half a dozen shows currently running on cable TV that are far more violent than "12 Years a Slave" is. So if this is the reason why you may have been avoiding checking out one of the finest films of recent years, you might want to rethink that decision and at least give it a try. You won't regret it.