“12 Years a Slave” earned strong critical praise at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. It’s no surprise director Steve McQueen’s latest drama won 3 Oscars, including Best Picture of the Year, and deservedly so. This is a heartbreaking, moving and inspiring film that needs to be seen.
Based on the true story (and book), Chiwetel Ejiofor delivers an immense performance as Solomon Northup. He is a free African-American living with his wife and two children (his daughter very briefly played by “Beasts of the Southern Wild”‘s Quvenzhane Wallis) in Saratoga, New York in 1841. Solomon is well-liked and respected in the community, and is, among other things, an accomplished violinist.
When his wife leaves with the children on a business trip (she’s a great cook), Solomon is lured to Washington, D.C. to perform, supposedly for only two weeks, in a traveling circus show. However, the men who hire him sell him into slavery. Solomon is then shipped to Louisiana, along with others who have also been kidnapped, and he begins a terrifying new life as a slave named Platt. No one will believe he’s really a free man from the North, and Solomon soon learns that talking about his true identity could prove costly. We then follow Solomon on his incredible 12 year journey as he attempts to cope with being a slave, while never giving-up hope of regaining his freedom and seeing his family again.
“12 Years a Slave” captures your emotions from the start never waivers for the entire 2+ hours. McQueen uses some interesting plot devices and camera work to convey the suffering and despair of his characters. There are an extraordinary number of close-ups of Ejiofor – and they all work. And McQueen lets most the of key scenes go on a little longer than you think they should – and they all work as well. I knew some of the background of Solomon Northrup’s life and plight going in, but was still thoroughly invested in him and his struggle to survive. The Oscar-winning screenplay by John Ridley holds nothing back. This is as raw a piece of filmmaking as we’ve seen all year.
The ensemble cast is a powerhouse: Ejiofor is excellent, and Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o is riveting as one of the young, female slaves. Michael Fassbender plays the ruthless plantation owner who Solomon spends most of his years working for. At times in the second half, “12 Years a Slave” nearly becomes “The Michael Fassbender Show”. He is outstanding as easily one of the most hated characters on the big screen this year. However, unlike “Django Unchained”, the supporting actors don’t steal the focus away from the star. Paul Giamatti and Benedict Cumberbatch are outstanding in their few scenes, as are Paul Dano, Alfre Woodard, and Sarah Paulson.
Another co-star, who also happens to be a producer, is Brad Pitt. His pivotal character doesn’t show up until late in the film, and Pitt’s appearance does take you out of the moment, but only briefly.
“12 Years a Slave” is rated R for disturbing, intense violence, adult content, nudity and language. It’s appropriate, and essential, for teens and up. Many scenes are difficult to watch, others are impossible to look away from. “12 Years a Slave” combines an important historical lesson with a gripping story. The result is one of the best movies I saw in 2013.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “12 Years a Slave” gets an A-.