12 Years a Slave

Despite its challenging subject matter – or rather, because of it – 12 Years a Slave could so easily be dismissed as the sort of contrived, emotionally manipulative film specifically designed to woo the Oscar crowd. You know the type: rousing war epics, political dramas making defiant left field statements, biopics about controversial characters wrestling with their inner demons in the form of drug/alcohol addictions and, especially, Holocaust movies, which have become something of a punchline since that episode of Ricky Gervais’ film-set sitcom, Extras (“I've noticed that whenever you do a film about the Holocaust – guaranteed Oscar!”).

But while we’ve been exposed to the horrors of WWII and Jewish persecution on a fairly regular basis, the same cannot be said about the enslavement of African Americans throughout the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries in the United States, a dark chapter in the country’s history which hasn’t been tackled on-screen with the frequency it deserves. 15 minutes into Steve McQueen’s film, the reason will become obvious.

12 Years a Slave tells the true story of freeman Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a talented violinist living with his family in Saratoga, New York who is lured to Washington with the promise of work, only to find himself captured and sold into slavery in Louisiana. Here he will endure 12 years of subjugation and all sorts of racial abuse at the hands of plantation owners and slave drivers, especially the tyrannical Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).

A Hollywood director could’ve mishandled 12 Years… by saddling it with heavy-handed moral lessons about equality and brotherhood (the only time we come close to this is with the brief appearance of Brad Pitt’s abolitionist carpenter, a character a little too angelic to be entirely believable), but British filmmaker Steve McQueen instead is bold enough to go down a darker route. He’s already proven with Hunger and Shame that he adopts an uncompromising approach towards the topics he confronts and therefore doesn’t flinch away from portraying the hardships of slavery that go beyond the “N” word and long hours spent in the plantation fields. Men and women are stripped and paraded for prospective owners to inspect, a mother is separated from her children with no sign of remorse whatsoever (“Your children will soon enough be forgotten”) and a foreman sings racist songs in a horribly misguided attempt to alleviate working conditions (Oh run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you/Run nigger run well you better get away). The audience doesn’t need a character to address what’s right and wrong for them – the material speaks itself.

It helps that our conduit into this oppressive world is Chiwetel Ejiofor, who infuses Solomon with the humanity and sincere emotion required to get us through such a brutal journey. An actor who throughout the past decade has excelled in small but memorable roles, it is immensely gratifying to see Ejiofor rise to leading man status and hold his own against some of Hollywood’s most exciting talents, including Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch and regular McQueen collaborator Michael Fassbender, who terrifies as ruthless yet self-loathing plantation owner Edwin Epps. But also worthy of mention is newcomer Lupita Nyong'o, who turns in a disarmingly committed performance as Patsey, a young slave who also happens to be the object of Epps’ affections. The scene in which the latter has her tied to a post and whipped to within an inch of her life before the helpless gazes of the other slaves makes for distressing viewing and will most likely be the scene that will remain with you long after the credits roll.

Like the horrific marks on the characters’ backs, 12 Years A Slave is a brutal yet necessary history lesson that will scar and move in equal measure. And considering the impressive number of Academy Award nominations it has stacked up, consider the Oscar crowd wooed.

5/5