As Profound and Essential as it is Hard to Watch

Rating: 10/10 (10 April 2019)

I will be honest. Twelve years a slave is not the easiest of movies to watch. Nor should it be, because its only goal is to cast an unflinching glare on the institution of slavery, perhaps the darkest stain on our nation's history.
At no point does it try to shield viewers from the horror it is exposing, but neither does it fall into the realm of sappy tear jerking. It simply shows the truth of slavery, which is that it was an inherently brutal and cruel institution base on fear and the complete control of another person. Solomon Northrop discovered this firsthand when he was lured from his comfortable life in New York and sold into bondage by men he thought were his friends.
Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays the horror and bewilderment Solomon felt upon the realization of his captivity and his grim determination never to accept his state with stoicism and restraint. At time it may seem that he- and by extension the film- lacks emotion, but this is represents not a lack of emotion, but rather numbness, alienation, and repression of his rage and anguish. It's only when you look closer that you see his despair, loneliness, and profound homesickness. Solomon's repeated maxim is that you cannot let yourself be consumed with despair; for then you are lost and your master has won.
Just as Ejofor shows great restraint in his acting, the film shows admirable restraint in not portraying all white Southerners or even all slave owners as vicious evil men, while still not apologizing for their actions or letting anyone off the hook. Master Ford is a decent and surprisingly kind man for a slaveholder and is clearly uncomfortable with the more inhumane aspects of the institution. Yet he paternalistically believes that it is enough to be a good master, and when Solomon's life is threatened the best he can do is to sell him off to a man with a notorious reputation for harshness and anger.
And Master Epps is a harsh and angry man. Played by Michael Fassbender with intensity, barely contained fury, and not a trace of mercy or humanity, he is every bit as hatable as Cotton Candy from Django Unchained, yet far more believable. A sadist and an inveterate racist, he believes that his every misfortune is the fault dark skinned chattel and that the lash is the solution to every problem. Besides his propensity for using his fist and the lash against his slaves, he also shows 'favor' to his favorite slave woman by directing his affections towards her. And his is the kind of affection that is not only imposed against her will but violently forced upon her. The kind of affection which fills his wife with jealousy and hatred the girl. The kind of affection which makes a woman wishes she was dead.
His cruelty is exceptional even by the standards of the time, but even when it not overtly brutal, the slave's life is one of toil and degradation. It's a life of long days working in the hot sun, of debasing yourself before any white man, of being subject to your master's every whim. To survive a man learns to keep his head down, to never stand up for himself or let on that he knows as much as he does. And he does it out of fear. Twelve years never lets the viewer forget that the entire institution of slavery is based on fear of violence and death. Fear so strong that it breaks a person, makes them go about their work while a man hangs from a tree, even whip their fellow slave lest they be in the same place.
Nor is only the slave who is affected by the evils of slavery, though he bears it the hardest by far. Seemingly gentle men are made callous by their participation in the peculiar institution, even as the suffering they cause, directly or not, eats at their conscience Even in the midst of hypocritical self pity, a white cotton picker shares a nugget of truth; whipping other men day in day out for a living doesn't sit well with a man's conscience. He either eases his guilt with excuses or numbs himself with drink, because any man with a heart knows deep down that slavery is a vile and inhumane practice.
This is a lesson that Twelve Years never lets the audience forget, though some may wish to. Even the happy ending is at best bittersweet, because when the nightmare is over and he's a free man again, it still doesn't make everything right. He will never get those twelve years back, so much has changed in his absence, and while he regained his freedom, the other slaves on the plantation don't have theirs. It's a depressing thought, but this was a depressing reality, and one we should all be aware of.