By: Kevin (@prufesuroak)
films d'hier is a new column we’re introducing to pretty much be a place where my love letters to films can live. These are more opinion and personal taste pieces for the most part. But a massive chunk of my favorites are the undeniable classics if you’ve seen them. Relive them, and if you haven’t and don’t mind spoilers, read on.
12 Years a Slave (2013) by Steve McQueen is based on a true story which follows Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold as a slave, in the years before the Civil War. Solomon, now called Platt, is thrown into a life of slavery for 12 years. Until one man, Bass, helps Solomon by sending a letter to the post office for him, helping return him back to his family.
The film starts out with a cold open. Solomon is seen sleeping with many other slaves in a barn. The story then goes back to show Solomon with his family living a free and comfortable like in Saratoga, New York. It quickly goes downhill when Solomon is asked to join a traveling circus headed to Washington D.C. While his family is away he agrees to the deal, only to later wake up in a dark room, chained up and alone. Sold as a slave and stuck in D.C., Solomon has no papers or proof of his status as a free man.
Solomon finds another shot at freedom when he is assigned to work on a house with another white laborer named Bass. Bass sends Solomon’s letter which gets him back to his family. He is picked up by one of his friends from Saratoga who bring the Police to verify that he is in fact Solomon Northup. The movie ends when Solomon returns to his family 12 years after his kidnapping.
There have been a couple films that have touched on the topic of slavery, but none have been as personal and intimate as 12 Years a Slave. It’s a hard film to watch, but it’s one that you would be remised if you didn’t. It has the same tough to watch quality that The Passion of the Christ had. But director Steve McQueen and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, present it to you in a much more savage way. The camera gets closer, lingers, and holds for a few extra uncomfortable seconds, but doesn’t cross the line into purposely shocking.
One of the most powerful scenes from the film shows Solomon dangling by his neck from a tree, barely touching the muddy ground for quite a long time. He is left alone, while the ranch guards leave to find the master to punish Solomon. While this is going on you can see the other slaves in the background, doing their work as if it were a normal day. This scene shows how normal a sight like this was to them. To the owners, slaves were expendable. They were seen as property and not human. One of the reasons that Solomon adapts the name Platt, is for this very reason. He did not want the slavers to see that he was an educated man.
12 Years a Slave truly shows us the kind of day to day life and struggle a slave would have had in the 1850’s, at least as close as you can get in a film. Steve McQueen does a tremendous job in presenting the emotions in his scenes, making a powerful film. The tone of the film is probably not what you would expect. It is similar to an epic, but a very subtle epic. It shows struggle and triumph, though mostly the struggle. It is a true and pure depiction of a darker time.
The film was all around given a lot of praise when it came out and ended up on countless top ten lists. More often than not landing positive reviews from many critics. And for good reason. This was a movie that pushed the limits. It wasn’t something that the people were looking for, yet when it did it was unanimously loved. Every once in a while we get something like this, that clams up the people for a short time.