19th Century Moral Relativism Viewed Through 21st Century Eyes

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2015)

It''s amazing how many soundbites you can create if you had the porn . So far we've had "torture porn" and "war porn" and I did wonder if 12 YEARS A SLAVE might suffer from being "racism porn" ? I do remember this movie hitting cinemas and wanting to see due to the universal acclaim it received then it inadvertently ended up on my films to watch when I get a chance list then became forgotten as the awards and acclaim came and went
First of all some people might wonder how any civilised country could have slavery ? You have to understand the concept of moral relativism . What this means there's no absolutes of good and bad and people view life as the cultural environment they live in . Take this scenario where country A which is a democracy invades country B which is a tyranny . Country A overthrows the tyranny of country B hopes to install a democratic government in country B but this fails because the inhabitants want a government of sectarian religious tyranny . I can name at least two countries in the 21st Century where this scenario has happened and so can you . So we agree moral relativism exists ? Dare not pick me up wrong . I'm not defending slavery , What I'm doing is saying people from different eras had different mind-sets
I brought this topic up because I believe this is how director Steve McQueen wants us to view mid 19th Century America . A common comment about this film - or indeed McQueens other work - is he uses the camera in a detached way and makes the audience spectators to the on screen events . In academic film classes this is called "spectatorship" and despite the many violent scenes involving whippings and lynchings what I thought wre the most powerful scenes were the ones where 19th Century characters say sublime dialogue that seem faintly ridiculous and certainly more than a little jarring and offensive when heard in the 21st Century . A small sample
"Oh you poor woman , Come in and rest . You will soon forget your children"
and
"Are you an engineer or a n-gga ?"
and
"The law says you have a right to your n-ggas"
Obviously the N word is thrown about with gay abandon but the racial slurs are nothing compared to a culture that has certain people no more than property . It's not the words and concepts that are shocking ( They are ) but the real shock is watching the indifference these 19th Century characters including the slaves themselves react mainly with with total indifference . Apart from viewing 19th Century America through 21st Century eyes . McQueen makes very good use of cinematography and colour scheme
Where the film does have a flaw is that despite its title I never go the sensation of time passing and the whole story felt it had taken course over a short period of time . Perhaps very simple inserts showing seasons change and some slight grey streaks but in to Solomons hair would have easily rectified this . It also has a cameo from Brad Pitt in a pivotal role which does tend to take this audience member out of the film but it's due to Pitt's involvement behind the scenes that McQueen managed to get the film made in the first place and for that we should be grateful since it's a powerful and impacting movie that deserved the awards