Review of 12 Years a Slave (2013) by Taryn F — 15 Aug 2014

Based on the fascinating memoir, "12 Years A Slave", this film recants the true story of Solomon Northup, a free-born African American man who lives in New York with his wife and children until he is coerced under false pretenses into joining a couple of circus performers for dinner. These two turn out to be con-artists who drug him, sell him, and aid smuggling him out of the country to Georgia, where he is forced into slavery under the moniker of "Platt". As the title suggests, he spends the next twelve years of his life enduring the brutal horrors of American slavery.

"12 Years A slave" is stupendously well directed by Steve McQueen, and the cinematography is some of the best ever: as a die-hard fan of Stanley Kubrick's iconic long-take-oriented style, I have to exclaim what a joy it is to see the form has not gone extinct -- a scene in which the character Patsey is violently and gruesomely whipped, is a 6 and-a-half minute long-take that sucks the air of the room as it plays -- and McQueen's jumpy camera holds and near-claustrophobic close-ups add authenticity to the visuals as well. It can be said with certainty that this movie is as beautifully filmed as it is beautifully written -- even as it depicts horrible things.

The story here could easily be called "The Diary Of Anne Frank" of American slave stories, it could also be called an important piece of work for today's culture. The only thing that impresses me more than the amazing story itself, is the modern day subtext it presents: a clear problem that many stories like this have with contemporary audiences is their incidental unrelatablity due to America being over 100 years sober of slavery; but "12 Years A Slave" (I feel) bridges that gap quite easily with a story that could be fundamentally compared to the modern day worldwide crisis of human trafficking (a tragedy that takes place even here in the US), and the depiction of illegal slavery and it's relationship with the once-legality of slavery in America could be used as a reference guide to explain the context to young American viewers of illegal human trafficking and it's relationship to the legality of prostitution in foreign countries.

Behind the fantastic writing and directing that's occurred here, there's also a veritable barrage of master acting and thoroughly enthralling music -- speaking of which, composer Hans Zimmer is at the top of his game. There's a scene in the film (in which the lead has been hanged from a tree) where an electric cello plays as the score, and to ominous effect.

The award-winning film, "12 Years A Slave" tells a story more terrifying (and more gruesome) than most horror films and may, as a result, be very difficult for some stomach watching, but for those who wish to: it is without a single doubt, a powerful work of art that is hard to look away from -- even for those that might want to.