Best Slavery Movie of All-Time

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2015)

It has become my practice to review any movie that I see that deserves to be reviewed. Sometimes, I face this task with trepidation or boredom. I will not deny it. But for the second time (The Wind Rises being the first), I face the prospect with not just excitement but downright glee. I suppose since it won Best Picture, any quote-unquote 'serious film-goer' in America has seen it already. But it still should be said that this is a movie that deserves to be seen. Though this film may not have been my choice for Best Picture, it is my honor and pleasure to say that it is a worthy best picture winner. For once, I don't think anyone could reasonably believe that the Academy got it wholly wrong.
Let me say that I did not come into this movie thinking I would wholeheartedly like it. I have been worn down by a lot of slavery movies, not all of them good. I don't quite know how to explain it to you non-Americans because while I am exposed to many of the great films from other countries, I am only rarely exposed to the mediocre ones. I suppose the closest comparison I can come to is Holocaust Films, which pop up internationally.
Like the Holocaust, slavery is a painful but important chapter that needs to be talked about. But also like the Holocaust, there are a glut of mediocre films about slavery. And they have no passion in them, no sense of purpose or motive. It's like people thought, "Hey Jimmy, we need a movie that's not too controversial, has a simple narrative so that people will know who to cheer for, and will get us some Oscar cred along the way. Let's make it about the Holocaust/slavery." And many of these movies just come down to shoving how awful slavery/Holocaust is in our face. We know already. We're not idiots, no matter what Trans4mers' box office receipts may say.
It disgusts me. It really does. These people have no idea what they're talking about. I am offended as a history-lover, a cinemaphile, and a person.
This film is the cure. But it's so much more than all that. It's a cinematic epic. It's the kind of movie that will hold its place in cinematic history and be watched time and time again. Grand in its vision and nuanced in its execution, it is one of the best movies of year and one that will rightfully end up on many best of the decade lists. There have been good movies about slavery before this. There have been important movies about slavery before this. But until this film, there has not been a film about slavery that I would put in the highest echelon of film (top 100). In that way, it is the Schindler's List of slavery movies.
For about fifteen minutes, I thought this was going to be merely an above-average slavery film. Then I thought it was going to be great slavery film. Then I just let go of my expectations and let this film consume me, fully. The cinematography is as elegant as it is humble. There are some stunning shots of sunlit trees or caterpillars, but there is nothing ridiculously artsy. Not that I hate ridiculously artsy... but this movie didn't need that and it knew it didn't need that. Some films pound you with their style. This one serenades you with it.
One of the best things about this film is how well of a storyteller it is. In writing circles, we say that there are two kinds of writers: stylists and storytellers. Many of the first kind are world-renowned. But people keep coming back to the work made by the second kind and for good reason... it is more fulfilling. I do not take back the glowing review I gave to Birdman last week, but I knew that there was something missing in that movie. It was this... an absence of storytelling at its highest level.
This movie gets right one of the often-overlooked aspects of making a film like this: the realism. I don't use that word like some do: I don't mean that it doesn't sugarcoat, though for the most part it doesn't. I mean that it shows it like it was, with all the nuance and peaks and valleys. I also don't mean that it is perfect in accuracy to reality. It knows that dramatic license isn't something to fall back on... it's a tool to communicate the feel of a film. And no other film could so capture the essence of this period and, more importantly, the essence of this man's life. One doesn't need to rely on sugarcoated clichÃ©s to inject passion in a film. Steve McQueen and his crew know how to do this.
They are helped by great acting. I don't have the space to list the nuances of all the great performances. I'll just say that this is, all-around, one of the best-acted films ever. Everyone who got a Oscar nom or nod deserved it. They are fiery, vulnerable, complex without being diluted. Simply superb.
This is not the best movie ever. The first act drags a bit and there are times when something seems a little off and there are some scenes that should have been added for grand or intimate effect and some that should have been cut to tighten the film. But all in all, this is a film that deserves to be called great and a landmark and stunning and oh so much more. Perhaps above all else, it lifts in a real way (not the fake, simple quotey way) out of despair.