Twelve Years a Slave

Bea says: We have seen one of Steve McQueen's films before (Hunger), and although an excellent film about a difficult subject, it was pretty distressing and not one I would rush back to see.  12 Years a Slave is perhaps a little gentler than that film - just really in the sense that it follows more of a story over a period of years, and we get an opportunity to witness the protagonist's - Solomon Northrup, played well by Chiwetel Ejiofor - personal growth (perhaps not the word, but ability to deal with his situation) and relationships.

However, there are of course distressing scenes; the worst one for me being the one where Solomon is hung - and having been rescued from death is nevertheless left for the rest of day with the noose around his neck, suspended from a tree with his feet just barely touching the muddy ground below.  Throughout this long, long scene we focus with the camera on keeping Solomon's toes on the ground, and hear his rasping, desperate breathing as he chokes just enough oxygen in to keep alive.  After a while, I put my hands over my ears, and wondered, as I am sure I was supposed to, how could anyone do this to anyone else?

The white plantation-owning characters, and other white characters, were actually a fairly rounded lot though, a mixture of contradictions - in the scene above it is a white man who saves Solomon's life, but still leaves him to, I assume, learn his lesson.  Some of the slave owners are relatively philanthropic, some are less so - and their motivations aren't always easy to understand.  The character of Mistress Epps (played extremely well by Sarah Paulson) was particularly interesting to watch; and I wondered if I had been her, and had been born and brought up in that culture, with those expectations, how differently would I have behaved?  It was a chilling thought, and made me glad I wasn't, and that I have grown in up a time which has had the benefit of Wilberforce, the suffragette movement, and the civil rights movements.

Very thought-provoking stuff.  McQueen is a very good director, had a good story to work with and some excellent actors in his team - my only criticism would be, perhaps just a little to slick, a bit like this film has had the Hollywood treatment.  It's hard to put a finger on what I'd like to be different though.  It also made me want to revisit that classic 70s mini-series, which I remember watching as a child, Roots - but probably because there are just so few films made about slavery there isn't much else to compare this to.

*** 1/2

Cecil says: Perhaps because this is the 4th successive film I've seen this year where the theme is basically 'survival', I actually liked this film the least of the four.

Of course, my hesitation could also be linked to my knee-jerk suspicion of any film nominated for sooooo many Oscars, usually because I can't help thinking that such blanket coverage of nominations must be as much to do with Hollywood's psyche and its own hang-ups as it is about the quality of the film itself.

Cinematographically, though, I simply preferred the Mandela film, the Railwayman movie and the Redford solo sailor epic. They also touched me more immediately for their different portrayals of survival. So, maybe I would have liked Twelve Years more if it had been the first film I'd seen this year?

Having said all that, it is a horrific and fascinating story. It's interesting that, on our travels in the States a couple of years back, we heard quite a lot about the Underground Railway (given a brief mention in the postscript credits because Northrup apparently helped others to escape in later years), but nobody anywhere mentioned the practice of kidnapping and sale into slavery of free blacks. But I guess the Underground Railway has a heroic angle to it, whereas pressgangs and dupesters are a part of America's past they would probably prefer to forget.

I also wondered what the hell Benedict Cumberbatch was doing there? Surely there are enough posh-sounding American actors around who could have played that role just as well. And Cumberbatch is popping up in just about every film or major TV production going at the moment.

Talking of familiar faces, we were both amused to see Omar from The Wire appear early on in this film but then bow out after only a couple of scenes; and then the gay ad man from Mad Men suddenly appeared on the steps of one plantation home, which gave us another reason to smile...

But none of this really takes anything away from the film itself. It does tell a good story; it is a period of American history not often talked about. And the actors do a good job across the board.

Hard to criticise it. But so many Oscar nominations? No, really...

***