Firstly, a disclaimer: a few trolls and contrarians aside (and, depending on which blogs you frequent and/or ‘newsletters’ you subscribe to - racists), everything you’ve doubtless already heard or read about Steve McQueen’s film of Solomon Northup’s 12 YEARS A SLAVE is true. I can only agree with all of the completely-deserved superlatives flying around, and try to add a few thoughts that I’ve not yet come across.
It is a faultless achievement - a magnificently judged, beautifully photographed, superbly acted, mesmerizingly timed, poetic masterpiece.
The cast, led by the magnificent Chiwetel Ejiofor (CHILDREN OF MEN, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS and SERENITY, finally getting his well deserved front-and-centre moment) and supported by the likes of Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, astonishing newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Garrett Dillahunt, Scoot McNairy, Afre Woodard and Brad Pitt (who was also one of the film’s producers) are superb. Save for Fassbender’s hypocritical and conflicted brutal plantation owner, the characters are painted with straightforward brush strokes, but each delivers gentle contrast to the bigger picture.
Behind the camera too, it feels like every crew member is on top form – the look, sound, and feel of the film, McQueen’s steely tone and spacious pace are all astonishingly well measured.
This is another film from McQueen about men struggling to overcome a loss of control in their circumstances (imprisonment in HUNGER, addiction in SHAME) – in 1841, free man Solomon Northup was lured from his home in Saratoga, New York, to work as a musician in Washington. Duped, he literally woke up in chains, robbed of everything including his own name, and there was worse to come. But unlike McQueen’s previous two protagonists, Solomon isn’t imprisoned as a result of his actions, beliefs or impulses. He is kidnapped, which results in him being ‘owned’ illegally, which gives him a much stronger sense of both hope and righteousness within his nightmare, and as such McQueen has a new approach, and new ground to tread. This is his most uplifting film.
Also (and I would love to hear McQueen’s thoughts on this), one crucial aspect will resonate long after Solomon’s account is over – the kidnapping itself. Despite a flawlessly presented period setting, the people smuggling operation he falls victim to operates simply and in similar ways to that which are still successful today, setting up an electrifying link to the present. Depending on who or where you are, you may be set thinking about those poor souls still today are sent to beg on the streets of Europe's biggest tourist cities, or the women and children forced into sexual slavery virtually anywhere, or any number of vile and cruel alternatives operating in different parts of today's world. That pivotal, yet almost invisible sequence reverberates through the rest of McQueen’s film, making it not just a film about that stained period of the United States' history, but about all those injustices still going on right now, right under our noses.
This isn’t a story to walk away from feeling good that slavery ended – for hundreds of thousands, it didn’t, and it doesn’t. That McQueen and his company have managed to package this a wholly accessible work of art is all the more amazing; something beautiful, elegant and dignified has been crafted from ongoing disgrace, shame and horror.
12 YEARS A SLAVE opens January 30 in Australia, and February 6 in New Zealand.