"12 Years a Slave" Review

There are plenty of films dealing with racism in America both past and present. However, none of the ones I have seen are as descriptive about slavery as "12 Years a Slave."

Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor, "American Gangster") is an educated man who owns a nice house with his wife and children. He is an excellent musician who is known for playing the fiddle. The color of his skin happens to be black, and he happens to live in America during a time in which slavery is prominent in the South.

One day he is approached by two men who have a job opportunity for him. They want him to use his talents to perform in a traveling show they are doing. He is offered money for his services, and he agrees to go with them.

They get to Washington D.C. and that night, the two men get him drunk. He wakes up the next morning in a cell with his wrists and ankles bound by chains. The man had been duped, and now he is to be sold into slavery.

As the title suggests, he spends twelve years working for white people as a piece of their property. He should not be there because he was initially a free man, but because he is black, he has no power. There is no way for him to convince anyone about his predicament because they all assume he is lying to get himself out of slavery.

The day I saw this, I had a conversation with someone who said she would never want to see this movie. Her reasoning is slavery is something she already knows about, and I can see her point. It is something that has been taught in schools and discussed in many different media. Whoever does not know about it has obviously been living under a rock. It is an uncomfortable topic especially among white people like me. Knowing that slavery exists is knowing that my ancestors committed horrors against humanity.

A few months before seeing this, I had a different conversation with an African American man who works at the Diversity Center of the school I attend, Utah State University. He said it is an uncomfortable topic, but it is necessary to see films such as this so that we are reminded about what happened.

From my own experiences growing up in a religious home, I understand how important these types of reminders are. I was always taught that I need to read our religious texts everyday, which include "The Holy Bible" and "The Book of Mormon" among other things.* I have read all of "The Book of Mormon" two or three times, and I continue to do so even though I know the stories. The reason I do this is so I never forget the kind of person God wants me to be.

That is why this movie needs to be seen. Slavery is something we need to be reminded about so it does not happen again. Furthermore, it also needs to be known just what evils humans are capable of. "12 Years a Slave" does this, but it is not always comfortable to watch. It uses brutal violence, nudity and a depiction of rape to paint the picture of slavery in America.

Chiwetel Ejiofor brings the necessary caliber of emotion to give life to the character, Solomon Northup. The man is separated from his wife and kids without being able to write them a letter explaining what happened. Furthermore, he has been a free man for his whole life, and now he is forced into slavery.

In the beginning, most of the slaves are completely submissive to their masters will. Northup is not, and it is empowering to see. When he goes into slavery he says he does not merely want to survive, he wants to live. He is more educated than some of his white masters, and he has too much dignity to let them push him around when he can help it. When someone messes with him, he fights back.

Throughout the movie, his worldview changes, and by the end he is different. He has seen how complicated fighting back makes his life. In the most memorable scene, he is forced to do something horrendous. Having no choice, he does it. The scene is very difficult to watch. It presents a feeling of helplessness that made me want to rebel or at least see Northup do so. However, as an audience member I can only watch it happen, and he cannot do anything about it.

Director Steve McQueen does a great job making the audience think about the events that are going on. It is not something that should be watched in a hurry. One scene in particular has a long, continuous camera shot that shows the same thing for several minutes. It intended to make us reflect on what is happening, and it adds a sense of discomfort that is important to feel given the circumstances.

I give this movie five out of five stars. It is as realistic a depiction of slavery as it possibly can be. There are segments that are uncomfortable to watch, but it needs to be seen. Right now, it is up for nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and I would be happy to see it win.

Content: Rated R. There is brutal violence. A couple scenes show backside male and female nudity as well as full-frontal female nudity. The N-word is said quite a bit, and the B-word is mentioned in one scene. Another scene depicts a rape, but all it shows is the facial expressions of the man and woman. The rape scene is a fairly tame scene in that I barely recognized what it was at first. There is another scene like it in the beginning, but it is not a rape. In both scenes, the characters are fully clothed.

*There are people reading this who are not of my faith. I am not trying to be preachy. I use this to make a point by drawing from my own personal experiences.

For more details on how I rate films, visit http://criticalchristopher.blogspot.com/2014/01/defining-rating-criteria.html