Hollywood has been specializing in very expensive popcorn flicks that only tickle you whilst you're in the cinema - as soon as you step outside of the cinema door, poof! goes the film.
12 Years a Slave is one of those movies, whilst you are watching it, it makes you think about what's happening in your world today as influenced by the past. By the time it ends, if you are a human being with a heart, it leaves you shell shocked. It stays with you.
A lot has been said about the brutality of slavery depicted in 12 Years, it’s not just physical but mental. Nothing compares to the human damage that we are subjected to, both physically and mental via the characters on screen.
Steve McQueen , the dude who gave us Shame and Hunger - both very art house films that are centered more on character journeys than plot - brings us his first linear story in his movie career but still stays true to his art house roots. The film holds no punches back, both thematically and story wise.
Based on the story of Solomon Northup, a freeman who was kidnapped and sold into slavery just before America's Civil War. The script is penned beautifully by John Ridley who leaves no stone unturned when it comes to excuses of racism and slavery.
The script shows how slavery managed to keep so many people down, how people bought into it at different levels, from both the slaver and enslaved for different reasons. How basically the system worked and affected the victims and enforcers.
McQueen has the great Hans Zimmer doing the score which is something between a Nolan abstract bass track from Inception and something menacing mixed with folk music. Menacing is the right word to describe the film actually.
For someone who has only made two films, McQueen has a strong sense for cinematography and creating visual metaphors. Of letting the pictures speak for themselves with a trademark of hanging onto shots for a while for that extra impact. There are no grand standing speeches but the images convey messages and the actors also do their bit.
Africans will be proud of what Chiwetel Ejiofor (of Nigerian parentage) and Lupita Nyong’o (of Kenya) do on screen. These two, plus Michael Fassbender, are the heart and soul of the movie.
All the great drama, insight and poignant moments centre round them and their performances. Lupita has a shoe in for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar after the nod the academy gave her with a nomination whilst Fassbender chews the scenery and Chiwetel shows his most sensitive side - more here than in any other role his reprised on TV or film. Chiwetel has had a very interesting body of work till now.
What I find great about 12 Years a Slave is that it shows how the system that oppressed blacks still works till today. How we don’t look out for one another, how black life is cheap, even in modern day South Africa (Andries Tatane etc) or the US (hello Trayvon Martin), how the freeing of the few is not enough when thousands are still suffering subjugation. 12 years a Slave, like The Wolf of Wall Street eventually speaks to our time and the here and now.
Using the past as a background to focus on issues that affect us up to today. The chains and plantations may be gone but tolerance and acceptance is still far away.
It shows that the exploitation of labour by commerce, the indignity the marginalized bear based on their race, gender or sex still continues up to today.
This is one of those movies every South African needs to see - probably more than Mandela: LWTF because it deals with its subject honestly, asking questions of both the victim and the perpetrator.
Showcasing the inhumanity of man-to-man based on flawed logic and reasoning. Respect to Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company for making a movie so honest in the age of visual effects and meaningless entertainment and to Steve McQueen for having the balls to tackle so honestly such a sensitive topic and for bringing in a perspective that's been lacking over the years on cinema - he is a man to watch out for moving forward.
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Trailer Watch :
X-Men: Days of Futures Past: If you have not seen this where you been? Looking very interesting and epic. We see the old stars of the X-Men movies meet up with the guys from the X Men: First Class. I suspect this is a set up for the introduction of Apocalypse, the all powerful mutant baddie which Singer has now announced for 2016 already.
Noah: Darren Afronosky of Pi, Black Swan and the Fountain comes with a Judeo-Christian take on the biblical story of Noah. Even though the trailer makes it look like a run-of-the-mill actioner, I doubt it would be - all of his films have art house sensibilities and I'm looking forward to see what he does to the story of Noah.