12 YEARS A SLAVE

Hype engulfed 12 Years A Slave ever since it was announced that the unjust true story of Solomon Northup was going to finally be told on the big screen. Before the film was even released it was expected to clean up at the Oscars and has since been nominated for 9 of the prestigious Academy Awards. Despite there being a fair few films depicting slavery in America, one of the most recent being Tarantino's 2013 Django Unchained, 12 Years A Slave is actually the first to explore slavery purely from the slave's point of view.

In case you don't already know, 12 Years A Slave is based on the memoir of Solomon Northup (Played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man living in pre-Civil War America who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. For 12 long years Solomon experiences both heinous cruelty and unexpected kindness from his masters but it isn't until a chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) that he finally gets a chance at being free again.

According to critics, 12 Years A Slave lived up to its pre-release hype. The story alone fascinated me but the raving reviews that I was consistently hearing made me even more excited to see this masterpiece for myself but I am disappointed to say that it just didn't live up to my expectations.

Director Steve McQueen is famed for his lingering shots and needlessly long scenes, a trademark of which this film is not exempt. Although for some scenes I understood the length of the shots - the abuse and torture Solomon faced at the hands of his captors was a particularly lengthy, graphic scene that forced the audience to sit and watch - making you feel voyeuristic and helpless. McQueen does not sugarcoat the abuse that the slaves faced, and rightly so - although incredibly disturbing to watch I believe that audiences should not be allowed to forget or gloss over our World's history, no matter how horrific it may be. However, other long scenes just seemed gratuitous to me - the extra minute or so in length did not add to the story or to the emotional impact on the audience, the camera just lingered meaninglessly on extreme close ups of the characters or needless, scene-setting longshots. The extensive amount of long scenes grew tiresome and made the film itself feel much longer than the 134-minute run time.

However, the biggest issue that I had with 12 Years A Slave is the lack of a time frame; throughout the film there is absolutely no reference or even indication to how much time is passing for Solomon. Obviously I was aware through the film's title that in total he spent 12 years as a slave but if it wasn't for that title and was instead purely down to the film's contents, I would probably have only guessed that he was kept for two or so years before he found justice. Aside from a few specks of grey appearing in Solomon's hair in the very final scenes, he doesn't look any older throughout the film. None of the characters seem to age at all. There is no hint of seasons changing, let alone the years and I thought it was lazy for McQueen to allow the film's title and well-known backstory to carry what is ultimately the crux of the film. The fact that Solomon was essentially held prisoner and away from his family for 12 years is what makes his story all the more harrowing and by removing all traces of passing time I actually feel McQueen did not do Solomon's plight justice. When you consider how much time was devoted to unnecessary lengthy scenes, you would have thought McQueen could have found the opportunity to put in some kind of indication as to how much time had passed. In comparison to fellow January release Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom, a film which never left any doubt in my mind as to how much time was passing either through the seasons, dialogue, captions or even just the change in the characters physical appearances, 12 Years A Slave is shambolic.

McQueen's shoddy direction aside, I did feel that the performances were strong. I'm not usually a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch but he gave a heart-warming, complex and emotional performance as Solomon's first master, Ford, and Michael Fassbender personified the evil Edwin Epps with harrowing precision. Cumberbatch and Fassbender's performances gave the film the edge that it needed to maintain my attention and the contrast between the two men was astounding and incredibly well done. Of course, it is undeniable that the performance that stole the show was our leading man, Chiwetel Ejiofor; a powerful performance that carried the film as Ejiofor skilfully conveyed the heartache and sorrow that Solomon felt but also, and most poignantly, his desperation to not only survive but to maintain his dignity whilst doing so. 

All in all, 12 Years A Slave is a brutal and honest depiction of the horrors of slavery in America. Solomon Northup's story is disturbing but was crying out to be shared and I applaud McQueen for bringing a story that would otherwise have remained relatively unknown to the forefront of public interest. However, for me McQueen's direction was the downfall of this film - the long shots and lack of a time scale made it boring at times and by failing to get across the length of time that Solomon was suffering at the hands of Edwin Epp, to me at least, he failed to bring Solomon justice. Were the performances good? Absolutely, and Ejiofor is especially deserving of all of the hype that is surrounding his role in the film. However, is 12 Years A  Slave the best film of the year? Absolutely not. And that is not something I expected or wanted to be concluding with.

★★★☆☆

12 Years A Slave is out now! 

 Stay tuned for more reviews and follow me on twitter if you fancy it :)

Love,