For his third movie, Steve McQueen tackles a very interesting and dreadful part of American History: Slavery. By adapting the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York who, after being kidnaped, is forced to become a slave for 12 years, McQueen creates a powerful and necessary movie.
Chiwetel Ejiofor carries the movie with strength and shows incredible talent. He scored the best role of his career and always stays very convincing in the portrayal of Solomon. His facial expressions convey so much pain and emotions in some scenes, that it’s impossible not to feel for that character.
That being said, he isn’t the only one who shines in 12 Years a Slave, as the supporting cast is incredibly good, and their characters are interesting and complex. Michael Fassbender as the ruthless Edwin Epps, Benedict Cumberbatch as the friendly slave owner Ford, or Paul Dano as the psychopath John Tibeats, we are introduced to different aspects of slavery, from the most violent aspect to the softest one.
Those characters offer a good reflection: you can wonder if some were mentally ill, like Epps, who, in addition of just being a despicable human being, seems to be paranoiac, or Tibeats that is violent only for violence sake. In the case of Ford, you wonder if he is a good man or not. He doesn’t really stand for slavery, but he don’t stop it either. There is a big open question on morality, and everyone needs to find its own answer.
But the real revelation of 12 Years a Slave is Lupita Nyong’o. It’s her very first movie and her performance is phenomenal. She plays the role of a slave girl, Patsey, who is in the favors of Edwin Epps. She shows just how skilled and talented she is while starring alongside enormous actors such as Fassbender. She begins her career with a bang and it announces a bright and long future for her in this industry.
Then, the story itself is horrible, McQueen chooses to show the most horrific scenes in the most painful way for an audience to watch. There is a six minutes long scene where you see Solomon half hanged and struggling to stay alive, his feet barely touching the ground, in the most disturbing silence. There’s another scene where Patsey went to get some soap and ultimately almost gets beaten to death. Those scenes are gut-wrenching, and it’s disgusting to think that people weren’t treated as human beings, that they were only seen as possessions and disposable objects.
12 Years a Slave is a necessary movie for American history and American culture in general. I feel like nowadays, we are not well aware of what happened in the past, because over and over, throughout history, the same patterns are always repeated, but with different victims. We need a wake-up call on some of the abominations of the world, as I feel like our generation is in decline and is being more and more violent or separatist.
McQueen is really starting to impose his very raw, powerful and provocative style on the cinema industry. The only thing we can hope is that he will continue to do so for many years to come.
12 Years a Slave is a big favorite for the Best Picture category, as it won a lot in this awards season. I am personally rooting for Lupita, who out of the 5 actresses in the Supporting Actress category, is the one that impressed me the most. I’d say that If you cannot handle violence well, don’t go see it, but otherwise, RUN!
Rating: 4.5/5
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