I’ve found most of my favorite art is uncomfortable. Not just when consuming it; in terms of the challenge in comprehending something dense, but also from the difficult feelings it can provoke. In a strange way we take pleasure not just from the art itself; but also in allowing ourselves a cathartic release of certain negative emotions when engaging with it. We listen to sad songs, we read depressing books, we watch tragic plays. This is the category of art I would put Steve McQueens ’12 Years a Slave’.
The story follows Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejofor), a free man in the North of America that is drugged and sold into slavery in the South. Once there, the story becomes a graphic exploration in the day to day life of a slave. For the most part when watching this film, I felt the way you usually do when watching a horror. The earlier scenes of capture and slavery reek of threat, the helplessness of the situation being so overwhelming that every moment your chest is tense with the thought of what savage acts might happen next. The film creates an immediate empathy with Solomon and his fellow slaves, and from that the simmering viciousness and cruelty that is so prevalent in characters like Tidbeats (Paul Dano) and Mr Epps (Michael Fassbander) kept me in a constant state of fear. Some conversations when Solomon is alone with Epps or Tidbeats had me wincing, such was the well crafted sense of subliminal brutality in the dialog and mannerisms.
One of the reasons McQueen films are so enjoyable to watch is his lack of background music. Although the score has traditional soaring violins that run throughout the film, the most vivid motif was the sound of crickets droning above the silence. Some of the most disturbing scenes were uncomfortably long, and had no music signposting how to feel, just the sounds of the humid air.
In terms of individual performances it’s hard not to ignore Fassbender as the maniacal slave owner Mr Epps. Every time he is on screen the sense of danger and unpredictability is palpable. Ejofor as Solomon is also incredible. He expertly portrays a slow attrition of the characters former sensibilities gradually being broken down into slave mannerisms. Some of the most powerful shots are simply of his face staring into nothing, a mix of disbelief and despair.
Overall the film is uncompromising and bleak, but compelling every step of the way. Some of the more graphic scenes are hard to take, but when put into the context of the film as whole makes them all the more important. No matter how much fanfare it gets, it could never be classed as a typical Hollywood blockbuster, and it’s so much better for it. It was dense film; it was scary, sad, nervous, uneasy and pretty much most of the bad things you can feel. I walked out of the cinema and; like the best art, felt so rewarded for having seen it.
by William