12 Years a Slave (2013)

Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

This ought to be an interesting blog post as Katie and my opinion wildly differ. This is my personal pick for Best Picture of the year, and outside of the vast technical achievements of Gravity is the most complete and accomplished film of the year. The film is also frequently hard to stomach and may have the least replay value of the nominees which will likely turn many people away. Steve McQueen impressed me incredibly with 2011’s Shame and he is rapidly establishing himself as a fearless, uncompromising voice. This film is already being called the Schindler’s List of slavery films and it’s hard to disagree as it presents such a definitive and multifaceted approach to the subject that it’s difficult to see how this will ever be topped. Instead of a protagonist that can’t comprehend his situation, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a very educated, free man that is thrust into the most degrading, humiliating circumstances simply because he put naïve trust in seemingly innocuous strangers. Nearly every character of this film represents a different aspect of the social strata of the time rarely investigated in many films. Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) demonstrates that not all slave owners were inherently evil but were locked into an economic system over which they had little control. The fabulous Oscar-nominated Michael Fassbender plays a character that acts out his frustrations towards slaves over being frequently emasculated by his wife in a male-dominated society. The inhumanity and complete lack of recognition of slaves as human lives is felt as never before in this film- the opening scene of this film shows a fellow slave silently influencing Solomon to give her sexual pleasure, a cry for help after an interminable time without being able to fear anything but numbness and fear before she turns away in weeping shame. I literally lost sleep over it the night I saw it and remained preoccupied and frustrated the next day over the conclusion. The film’s ending is not disappointing nor is it completely depressing or unresolved, but I wanted more closure, more justice, more satisfaction- and the fact that the ending didn’t and couldn’t give you that was merely its final stroke of brilliance. While it was not the most entertaining or most enjoyable film of the year and it will not sweep all of its nominations, I believe 12 Years a Slave has the deserved momentum to win Best Picture and secure an important place in history.

So of all of the movies this year this was my least favorite.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great film but I don't see me watching it ever again.  Like most movies based on slavery, it's not exactly easy material to watch after a long day at work.  Tim and I disagree but I sort of felt like it was the male version of The Color Purple.  The Color Purple is great and all but who wants to watch that?  Maybe I'm totally wrong and I thought the performances were great but it just wasn't my deal.  I think it's an important story that needs to be shared: a free man being abducted and forced into slavery was a new aspect.  And the fact that it's based on a real story is pretty sick.  I guess at the end the payoff was good but not as good as I wanted it to be.  It was worth it once, but why would you put yourself through that again?  However, as the movie came to it's conclusion, I did weep like a small child. 

In order to better portray an alcoholic Michael Fassbender had his makeup artist paint his mustache with alcohol so that the other actors would react naturally to the smell as they would to a man who had been drinking heavily.

Solomon Northup: I don't want to survive. I want to live.