Been There, Done That Better

Rating: 2/10 (1 December 2014)

I watched this movie completely unaware it had won any Oscars and I have to say I was surprised to learn that it had. The main character is a fine actor and reminded of the roles once played by the late Paul Winfield. What I found incredible was the sheer incredibility of the storyline.
The slave story has been done to death, as has the cruel master, etc. Therefore, upon learning the film had won Oscars, I was even more astonished. Here you have a free man, a family man, accomplished and well-known and respected in his native upstate New York and yet he goes off willy-nilly with a couple of self-described circus performers and ends up in slavery for 12 years. The questions are immediate and many. Did he not discuss this venture with his family and well-heeled white friends before setting out? Would they not have advised him against going to a known slave state(s). Did he never attempt to write to them giving an update on his itinerary? In 12 years, did no one investigate his disappearance?
Of course in the dozen years of captivity, he made no attempts to escape so far as we can tell and yet he often made sure that others were aware of his "intelligence." Supporting characters were sketchy as well. The one played by Alfre Woodard for example would seem to be in a position to assist runaway slaves or those who wanted to but her basic cameo role is incongruous and I suppose meant to show that white slave owners had black mistresses. Big shock! And patronizing of all is the part given to himself by producer Brad Pitt, the film's white man with a heart. With a part as brief as Woodward's he is introduced as an itinerant abolitionist berating his slaveholding "brother" for the evil of slavery and predicting the slavers would ultimately pay the price for this injustice to mankind. And yet, when approached by the slave for help in posting a letter to those who might rescue him, he balks, claiming fear for his own safety if he did so. But in the end he capitulates and of course the ending owes itself to his efforts.
I have to add this spoiler as well. When the evil master demands that our hero whip the master's black chippy (which actress won an Oscar too) I was dumfounded that, given all he knew about this man and had even engaged in an altercation with him himself, that the slave complied. I really was.
Perhaps the film was meant to show that any man can be broken. If so, then I do not think it succeeded at that either. When a film at its conclusion has to include so much written screen explanation, I think that shows that the film is lacking. This film bored me and seems like a film about slavery that whites would make who had no knowledge of the situation at all.