Disappointingly conventional

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 2016)

Steve McQueen's 'Twelve Years a Slave' is not exactly a bad film; but I confess to a certain disappointment in it. McQueen's earlier movies, 'Shame' and especially 'Hunger', were raw, visceral portrayals of life under a certain sort of inescapably grim reality. But 'Twelve Years a Slave', while it contains many horrific moments, is basically full Hollywood, with emotional background music underscoring the emotions we're meant to feel, and a narrative that stresses the possibility of the individual triumphing against evil and misfortune through strength of character alone. Of course, this is a common solution, because depicting unameliorated misery could make for a grim movie: the audience prefers 'The Shaswhank Redemption' to a story ending in prison suicide, or 'Schindler's List' to a drama actually set in the camps. But McQueen has previously skirted the thin line between truth and unwatchability with considerable skill: this outing, though made with a much bigger budget, is a less ambitious effort.