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| Korean poster artwork for the historical biographical drama film 12 Years A Slave. |
Intercepting Injustice by Linh
The film adaptation 12 Years A Slave is based
on the true story of Solomon Northup, whose 1853 memoir titled Twelve Years A
Slave was used as the original source for the film. Northup was a legally free *negro
who was born in New York State but was kidnapped in 1841 to be sold into
slavery. The film chronicles the twelve years Northup spent as a slave working
in the plantations for different masters and the people he encountered who
showed kindness or cruelty towards black slaves.
Director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) is
beginning to develop a reputation for films regarding issues or themes of human
suffering or afflictions that are riveting and leaves the viewer in silent awe.
This film is exceptional despite the few alterations in the story that are made
for dramatic effects but do not change the overall sentiments of the original
book.
The film begins in Saratoga Springs, New
York, in 1841 where a legally free negro named Solomon Northup (Chiwetel
Ejiofor), who works as a skilled carpenter and plays the violin, is spending
some family time with his wife Anne (Kelsey Scott), son Alonzo (Cameron
Zeigler) and daughter Margaret (Quvenzhané
Wallis). Later, he meets with his white friend
Parker (Rob Steinberg) for business and consequently encounters two white men
named Mr. Brown (Scoot McNairy) and Mr. Hamilton (Taran Killam), who offer him
a brief and high-paying job as a musician with their travelling circus. Solomon
goes to Washington D.C. with Hamilton and Brown where he is drugged, bound and
kept in a slave pen, before being transported by ship to New Orleans. On the ship, there are abducted women and
their children, and the negro men tell Solomon that he must be silent, endure
the beatings and never reveal he is literate.
Solomon is re-named Platt by the slave
traders and sold to a debt-ridden cotton planter named William Ford (Benedict
Cumberbatch) who treats him kindly. Another owner named John Tibeats (Paul
Dano) feels Solomon is using his carpentry and communication skills to
challenge Tibeats’s superiority as a master. Solomon suffers cruelty and
ill-treatment at the hands of Tibeats, even being hung by the neck from a tree
for many hours, until Ford returned from a trip to release him. Stricken with
guilt that he cannot protect his slave from harm, Ford sells Solomon to the
notoriously cruel Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Solomon meets a young slave
girl named Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o) who is the hardest worker and fastest cotton
picker on Epps’s plantation. He witnesses her suffering while enduring his own.
She seeks his help in committing suicide but Solomon refuses. He spends a
decade working for Epps as a cotton picker, driver, and overseer who must
punish fellow slaves for disobeying Epps. While working on a gazebo for Epps,
Solomon meets a Canadian carpenter, who is also an abolitionist, named Samuel
Bass (Brad Pitt), whose generosity alters Solomon’s life.
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| SKILLED SLAVE: Solomon/Platt (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is grateful for the kindness of his master Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) when his other master Tibeats (Paul Dano) attempts wrongfully punish him in the historical biographical drama film 12 Years A Slave. Image: Icon Films. |
The performances in this film are excellent,
particularly with the subject matter of slavery, where extreme prejudices,
cruelty and discrimination are depicted through the strong characterisations
and cohesive screenplay.
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Half Of A Yellow Sun,Triple
Nine) is outstanding in the lead role of Solomon/Platt and he convincingly
portrays a man who never gave up on his fight for freedom and to reunite with
his family; the versatile Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past,
Frank) who worked with Steve McQueen in Hunger and Shame, provides an admirably
stellar performance as the racist and cruel Edwin Epps; Paul Dano (Prisoners,
Love and Mercy) is brilliant as the envious bigot John Tibeats, whose insecurities
manifests as hatred and rage against his slaves; making her debut in this feature
film, Lupita Nyong’o is gentle, vulnerable and sweet as slave girl Patsey,
whose inner strength wanes with the sex abuse at the hands of Epps and her
attempts to escape result in severe whipping.
Supporting roles are equally impressive including
from Sarah Paulson as Mary Epps the jealous wife of Edwin Epps; Paul Giamatti
as the conniving slave trader Theophilus Freeman; Alfre Woodard is delightful
as Harriet Shaw, the former slave woman who became the wife of a wealthy
plantation owner, and an inspiration for Patsey; Benedict Cumberbatch is
unforgettable as the benevolent cotton plantation owner William Ford whose
kindness towards slaves briefly gives Solomon hope in humanity; Brad Pitt is
commendable as carpenter and abolitionist Samuel Bass with a passable Canadian
accent for his brief scenes in the film.
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| SOCIAL STATUS: Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) greatly admires Harriet Shaw (Afre Woodard) who was formerly enslaved but was able to use her personal powers as a woman to become the wife of a wealthy plantation owner in the historical biography drama film 12 Years A Slave. Image: Icon Films. |
The film depicts common practices related to
slavery in the pre-Civil War period such as the treatment of negroes as not
possessing any human value, but are seen as objects worth monetary value,
therefore can be sold, bought or exchanged; the undressing of negroes and
line-ups in the nude, then displayed for potential buyers; using negroes for
entertainment purposes such as dancing; black women are seen as property of
slave owners so they are at high risk of rape and sexual abuse; children of
slave women are often removed from their mother’s care and sent away; treatment
of slaves varying from kindness to cruelty with whippings, hangings and
mutilations.
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| MANIPULATIVE MASTER: Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) informs his slave Solomon/Platt (Chiwetel Ejiofor) that punishment is inevitable and painful if he is caught escaping in the historical biographical drama film 12 Years A Slave. Image: Icon Films. |
12 Years A Slave is mostly about the years of
one man in slavery, but is also a shared story for many others who have lived
through similar experiences of struggles and indignities associated with
slavery. It is a difficult film to watch as it depicts moments in America’s
history of injustice, inequality and inhumanity towards a race of people, and
this appalling pre-Civil War period may still have emotional resonance for
future generations of African Americans. However, it is an important film to
watch, in the sense that by witnessing the wrongs of the past, we may learn to
right those similar wrongs in the future and attempt to never repeat them.
Director: Steve McQueen
Writers: Solomon Northup (author of memoir
Twelve Years A Slave), John Ridley (screenplay)
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender,
Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti,
Rob Steinberg, Taran Killam, Scoot McNairy, Quvenzhané
Wallis, Kelsey Scott, Cameron Zeigler, Afre
Woodard, Brad Pitt, Dwight Henry, Ashley Dyke, Deneen Tyler, Bryan Batt,
Michael K. Williams, Marcus Lyle Brown, Vivian Fleming-Alvarez, Anwan Glover,
Craig Tate, Chris Chalk, Garrett Dillahunt, Adepero Oduye, Eliza J. Bennett,
Bill Camp, Ruth Negga, Jay Huguley, Christopher Berry, Devyn A. Tyler
Producers: John Ridley, Bianca Stigter, Tessa
Ross, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Bill Pohland,
Arnon Milchan, Anthony Katagas
Original Music Composer: Hans Zimmer
Cinematographer: Sean Bobbitt (Director of
Photography)
Film Editor: Joe Walker
Production: Adam Stockhausen (Production
Designer), David Stein (Art Direction), Alice Baker (Set Decorator)
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
Running Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes
*The term negro/negroes is no longer in
general use but is used in historical context for this written piece. Negro is
a term that may still be used in anthropological or historical studies for
academia.
