Review of 12 Years a Slave (2013) by Davyfiore — 27 Feb 2015

So I finally got around to seeing 12 Years a Slave, and now that I've wiped the tears from my face, I can tell you I was a little disappointed!

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I watched it. I liked certain things about the directing (like the fact that McQueen didn't plaster the movie with music) but the whole thing, the whole production, struck me as somewhat empty. There weren't those little details that bring a story, and especially a time period, to life. Life in the slave quarters, in particular, was lifeless. You can argue that that's because all the slaves were reduced to zombies, but I think it might be more a lack of imagination on the writer's part. In general I felt that where the source material didn't give any information, the movie-makers failed to fill in the gaps without resorting to cliche. I definitely want to read the autobiography now, though.

In a weird way it was like a melding of Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto (or however you spell it). 12 Years had the lingering sadomasochism of the Passion (Polansky proved you don't need to dwell on torture to make an audience feel it), at the same time it was a rousing survival story like Apocalypto. How can you not root for Platt! Every time he got his hands on some sneering racist villain I cheered! But I was disappointed in the end, because say what you will about Mel Gibson, he knows how to conjure up the weirdness of a different world.

Also, you gotta love how Brad Pitt, who produced the movie, gave himself the best white role.