12 Years A Slave

Director: Steve McQueen

Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong’o

Released in UK: 10^th January

To say this film has been greatly anticipated and long overdue is a huge understatement, by confronting subject material that was practised in the United States for over two hundred years but has previously been skimmed over on film. A deeply powerfully moving and shocking piece, McQueen’s third directorial effort follows the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery for over a decade and who told his story in his own autobiography which was published a year after his release.

Northup (Ejiofor) is a talented musician and devout family man from Saratoga Springs near New York, but in 1841 he is cruelly tricked by two circus entertainers with dreams of fame and fortune, drugged and wakes up in chains having been sold into slavery. Given a new slave name, over the decade he is in servitude he encounters very different owners and forms close bonds with the other slaves.

This is not happy viewing. Its violent, cruel and shocking, but none the less gripping. The lingering long shots of slave abuse are unbearably heart breaking. One character is overcome with grief after she is separated from her children when they are sold to different owners, and in another horrific moment, Solomon is punished by the vile and sadistic plantation overseer (played perfectly by Paul Dano) by being stretched from a tree a warning to the other slaves for speaking out against authority. They meekly continue with their work around him.

Two of films slave owners are on opposite sides of the personality spectrum. While Benedict Cumberbatch’s Ford is meekly stands by as others do the abuse, Michael Fassbender’s Edwin Epps is a maniac, a spiteful beast of a human, whose vindictive and cruel punishments include drunkenly dragging all his slaves out of bed in the middle of the night, forcing them to dance in his front room. “There is no sin, a man does what he wants with his property,” he sneers.

One poor woman whom he enjoys picking on, the lowley field girl Patsey (superbly played by newcomer Lupita Nyong’o – who shines in her first big film role and is reaping in the nominations as we speak) is sexually abused, hit, attacked and treated like dirt. Fassbender is an exceptional addition to the cast, and much like his previous performances in McQueen’s Hunger and Shame throws himself uninhibited into a very controversial role.

Yet with all the big names, this is Solomon’s story, and each slave owners he encounters share a disgruntled feeling that there is something special about him. Solomon of course is different from many of the others because he is educated and was brought up into society. He keeps his education a secret for fear of his life, because if he is revealed to be able to read and write that makes him a threat and a liability. Feeling threatened by Solomon, Epps sets out to squash and destroy any humanity he has in a bid to claim hierarchy and power. Any slave who oversteps the mark and pushes the limits is punished severely, as we see time and time again in film. McQueen isn’t scared to shed some skin and draw blood, in more ways than one.

This is likely to be the highlight of Ejiofor’s career. He is quite superb portraying a man of great intelligence and humanity, but never giving up hope of freedom. It’s a subtle and sensitive performance, fortified by the cast around him.

Unsurprisingly there have been strong comparisons to Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, but that was more of a shock for entertainment value – gun shoot out scenes, deaths and gallons of blood in Tarantino’s usual style dramatized for effect. McQueen’s 12 Years is a realistic and loyal adaptation of a real man’s plight.

The ending is no picnic and no fairytale outcome. Though Northup was incredibly lucky in real life to be reunited with his family, thanks to the help of a fellow white worker (played on film by Brad Pitt, who also produced the film), for millions they were not so lucky. Slave trade was a long and cruel time, and McQueen forces us to finally confront the truth of this history.

VERDICT: * * * *

Brutal, shocking, heart breaking but truthful– finally a film that isnt shy to break the barriers of slave trade truth. McQueen’s film is fortified by beautiful performances (most notably Nyong’o), while Ejiofor excels in one of his first big leading roles. Expect to see awards a plenty heading their way, and most deservedly so.

12 Years A Slave is released in UK cinemas from 10th January.