Exceptional, harrowing film. Not just a must see; a should see!

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2014)

Do we really need to see such vivid displays of barbaric abuse tantamount to torture in the 21st century? While educated humans still hate, judge and mistreat others for their sexual proclivities, gender, religion, class, physical appearance and race, then the answer is emphatically yes!
Steve McQueen's third feature as director (after the lauded Hunger and Shame) is harrowing. Don't even think about entering the cinema if you're looking for entertainment or an easy ride. There are many fine films dealing with the issues of racial inequality and slavery (try Amistad or Django Unchained) but 12 Years a Slave is in another league and it's unlikely you'll emerge light of heart and dry of eye if there is even a nugget of justice and humanity inside you.
12 Years a Slave, adapted from his autobiography, depicts the true story of Solomon Northop (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a husband, father and respected free man living in New York until 1841 when he is duped, kidnapped and sold into slavery by Theophilis Freeman (Paul Giamati) and bought by the comparatively kindhearted Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) before being passed on to the sadistic landowner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). For twelve years Solomon endures unimaginable violence and abuse that to merely survive requires a miracle of fortitude and fate.
It is difficult to present any negative criticism of 12 Years a Slave without sounding petty. If there are any weaknesses, they are substantially drowned into submission by the deafening volume of all that is powerful upon the screen. At every turn there is excellence, in every blink a sound or image to not merely prick our conscience but to perforate it.
McQueen has crafted a film that numbs as much as it wrenches. But whereas Mel Gibson set out to horrify us with his flaying of Christ's back in The Passion of the Christ but served only to sicken us with his gratuitousness, a similar scene in McQueen's sensitive hands is compelling. It is horrible and horrific but so carefully shot that we cannot look away because this is yet another part of the lesson we absolutely must acknowledge and comprehend. There is no sense of entertainment, only a reluctant presentation of the truth.
But it isn't just in the physical displays of violence that McQueen shreds our comfort zone. His lingering shots that refuse to be hurried along hold our reluctant gaze, intensifying our discomfort. As Solomon dangles from a noose on tiptoe, battling to remain both upright and alive while fellow slaves play and toil around him, steadfastly refusing to be moved or involved, it is left to us to witness the barbarism. If Solomon cannot escape, why should we?
The seemingly endless shots occasionally bring temporary comfort; the embers of a burning sheet of paper lingering, dancing silently, peacefully before the next scene shakes off our security blanket once more. Joe Walker's editing works symbiotically with McQueen's direction, juxtaposing contrasting emotions to ramp up our discomfort; as the peaceful scene of a Christian service unfolds with Ford preaching kindly to his workers, the soundtrack of the previous scene, Paul Dano's Tibeats tauntingly singing Run, N****r, Run, hangs over it like a poisonous cloud. We try to hear the kindness in Ford's words but the unbridled hatred of Tibeats' deny us peace yet again.
McQueen sprinkles 12 Years a Slave with suggestions of compassion (a gift to Solomon from Ford) but these are only hints of humanity from people too afraid, too cowardly to do something meaningful, and each hollow gesture is just another, subtler act of betrayal.
It isn't much of a prophesy to say that this is certainly a career-changing and perhaps a career-defining performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor. He was reputedly reluctant to take the role, fearing he would not do it justice and would let those down who suffered Solomon's fate. He need not have worried. The memory of his eyes variously piercingly defiant or hollow with grief remain long after the final credits roll. There are others who have performed with the same honesty and intensity as him this award season, namely Robert Redford in All is Lost, but none will leave you feeling raw and ashamed to be the same species as Solomon's owners. I think the phrase you are searching for is tour de force.
In his third film with McQueen, Fassbender plays Epps as a man who, in another life, might be Amon Goeth. Though Epps' actions are monstrous, Fassbender resists playing him simply as a monster, managing to portray his weaknesses and thoughtful reasoning as valid parts of him. In the moments when he refuses to give in to his hateful wife we see a man who has his own brand of goodness buried under his prejudice.
Making her cinematic debut, Lupito Nyong'o as the object of Epps' attention, Patsey, gives a performance beyond that of many season stars. Again, it is a performance that leaves one feeling raw and bereft. 12 Years a Slave is complete because the cast enhance the emotion and intensity that McQueen creates around them and every scene lives because of the skill of the actors that fill them. Brad Pitt as the Canadian abolitionist, Bass, brings a welcome gentleness to the film but we, like Solomon, don't know if his words are genuine or the precursor to another betrayal.
It is perhaps an understatement to say that 12 Years a Slave is a very, very powerful film. It is not just an exceptionally well-crafted film but an important one that leaves the viewer numb, tear-streaked, shaking and wondering if the biggest betrayal is not that we once behave so abominably but that in so many ways we still do.
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