12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave avoids feeling like cheap exploitation, but Ridley’s script reduces the evils of slavery to a concept that isn’t challenging and lets viewers disconnect from the atrocities.
12 year a Slaveis ground on the memoir of Solomon Northup ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ) , a gratis black man and professional fiddler from New York who , in 1841 , appreciatively have an offer of usage from two Man , claiming to be fellow creative person and appendage of a traveling circus . The morning after a nighttime of all right dining and gain ground with the duad , Solomon awoke to a nightmare - discovering that he had been deceived , drug , kidnapped and deal into slavery .
Unable to find any free person who might heed to his protests - or brave enough to put on the line their own refuge by aiding him - Solomon feel humiliation , physical savagery and even unexpected forgivingness , before he became the holding of Mr. Edwin Epps ( Michael Fassbender ) , a slave proprietor who prided himself on his ability to break the spirit of any rebellious servant on his plantation . However , even when look with such unsurmountable horror , a soul as strong and dignified as Solomon ’s could not be shattered .
Directed by Steve McQueen ( Hunger , Shame ) and script by John Ridley ( Red Tails),12 Years a Slaveis a well - crafted celluloid that uses the topic of slavery in the pre - Civil War U.S. as a means for ruminating on the human condition . However , it fail to make a clear - cut command about the slavery upshot or supply new sixth sense on that dark chapter in American chronicle . And thus , because the film does n’t nictate an middle - when it comes to portraying the cruelty / violence committed against Black in the Antebellum South - there are times when it feel like ( put bluntly ) the eq of " twisting porn " made for arthouse moviegoers .
In the past , McQueen has also used larger theme ( the IRA Hunger Strike , modern sex disorders ) to search how what a person does and/or what others do to a person ’s soundbox affects their spirit . That head is again his true focus with12 Years a Slave , but the decision to apply Solomon Northup ’s tale as a way to further search the issue show less effective at good , highly questionable at worst . As a effect , the scenes that depict the dehumanizing nature of slavery are genuinely disturbing to look out , yet the film as a whole fail to offer the kind of personal and enlightening character subject field that would ’ve made all the agony portrayed more meaningful ( from a discussion standpoint ) .
lie assured,12 Years a Slaveis as gorgeously shot and visually - compose as McQueen ’s past film ; his frequent cinematographer Sean Bobbitt photographs the 19th - hundred South as a sweltering infernal region - characterized by ardent sundown , punic bogs and sparse cotton fields - populate by Solomon , other slaves and their oppressor . Meanwhile , the editing choices made by McQueen and his trusted editor program , Joe Walker , prefer subtly when it come to spacing out stroke and/or scenes that parallel one another ( for thematic effect ) . Similarly , much of Hans Zimmer ’s grievance is restrained and gentle - save for an other sequence ( where Solomon is transport South by ferry ) , when the grievance becomes as over - the - top ominous as would beseem a horror movie .
Indeed,12 Years a Slaveoften stretch as a historical horror show , as Solomon take on many a grotesque Southerner who is all too eager to hurt , violation and/or murder any shameful soul that crosses their route . job is , Ridley ’s screenplay paints the story of Solomon Northup in overly unsubtle strokes and run out to lend much depth to either the heroes , victims or villains . The end final result is a story that skips too quickly through instances that offer complex brainstorm ; and , on occasion , almost seems to savor the moments that show the unlike slaves getting beaten , raped , flayed and hung ( hence the " torture pornography " label ) .
Ejiofor ’s performance as Solomon is refined and sympathetic , yet is undercut because the character is too thin - write . No doubt , everyone who goes to see the film will cheer for Solomon to escape and reunify with his home , but Ridley ’s script go to dig beneath his Earth’s surface - as a human beingandartist - and reveal who he truly is , as areal person(not just a chassis to be worship ) . likewise , Fassbender bring a steely gaze and disquiet gusto to the role of Mr. Epps , yet the antagonist - a malevolent villain who bed to excruciate his hard worker and lustfulness for his hard - make handmaiden , Patsey ( Lupita Nyong’o ) - is not written as being much deeper than your average Disney moving-picture show villain .
Several of the film ’s most hopeful vista involve the reputable supporting cast - Paul Giamatti as a slave auctioneer , Benedict Cumberbatch as Solomon ’s first master , Paul Dano as an especially - punchable striver honcho and Garret Dillahunt as a operose drinker forced to work alongside the slaves he once ruled over - but their flimsy characterizations and the handwriting ’s want of payoff make their screen time finger a bit like afterthought ( not helpful improver to the primal battle of will between Ejiofor and Fassbender ) .
Sarah Paulson as Fassbender ’s wife , Alfre Woodard as a well - cared - for slave mistress and Nyong’o as the abused Patsey are just never given the fortune to fully explore how char in their positions might have act - and , more significantly , whythey act the way they do - in bitchiness of earnest performance from all three actresses ( specially Nyong’o ) . last , many a placeable look pops ups for a scene or cameo , including Scoot McNairy ( Argo ) , Quvenzhané Wallis ( brute of the Southern Wild ) , Michael Kenneth Williams ( Boardwalk Empire ) and Brad Pitt as a reform-minded - minded Canadian ; with the elision of Pitt , though , these role are n’t really desirable of the talent behind them .
Mr. Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
12 Years a Slaveavoids impression like cheap exploitation , but Ridley ’s playscript reduces the evils of thralldom to a concept that is n’t challenge and permit viewers disconnect from the atrocities portrayed onscreen , without having to ask themselves thereallyhard doubt ( like"Could I have deport like that , if I ’d been awake back then ? " ) . McQueen ’s storytelling approach is more accessible here than with his late films , yet it ’s also too remote and is partly to find fault for making the viewing experience a punishing , yet ultimately dig one .
In the end , it ’s good to approach12 Years a Slavewith the outlook that you are move to watch a well - made speculation about a man who endures a terrifying journeying ( right out of a Franz Kafka novel ) - not a picture that really adds so much to the ongoing conversation about slavery .
For those who are still undecided , here is the trailer for12 Years a Slave :
Mr. Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
12 Years a Slaveis now playing in a limited theatrical press release in the U.S. , but will continue to expand nationwide over the upcoming weeks . It is 134 minutes long and Rated universal gas constant for violence / inhuman treatment , some nudeness and abbreviated sexuality .
Directed by Steve McQueen and free-base on the 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup , 12 geezerhood a Slave tells the story of Northrup , a free black piece from New York who , in 1841 , is captured and sold into thrall in the south . classify from his fellowship , and force to endure acute brutality at the hand of his raw skipper , Northrup act upon indefatigably to stay alive and regain his freedom . The picture show stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Northrup , with a cast that includes Lupita Nyong'0 , Michael Fassbender , Paul Dano , and Benedict Cumberbatch .
Sarah Paulson and Lupita Nyong’o in ‘12 Years a Slave’
