Recommendation: 5/5 Stars
The Cinephile’s Journey is an attempt to watch and review every film that has won The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar for Best Picture.
Plot: “In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.”
Review: In conversations about the film, 12 Years a Slave, I often hear some variation of the same sentiment. “That was a great movie, but I will never watch it again.” On the surface, there is nothing easy about the story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Bearing witness to brutality and inhumanity is never easy. But I believe it is necessary to bear witness to his tortured story. The cruelty that visits him and his fellow slaves is a pain we must confront.
With this review, I would like to make an argument for choosing to revisit this film. Watching this movie for this series of reviews marks my third time. Each experience has delivered a different outcome. The first time forced a reckoning with the privilege I possess as a white man in America. My second viewing was with my mom, who was a child and a teenager during the height of the civil rights movement. After the third viewing, all I could think about was Florida.
Across our nation, political leaders and well-organized groups are attempting to whitewash history. They want to pretend as if such historical cruelties, like those portrayed in this film, never occurred. They make up stories about the root causes of what ails us and work tirelessly to convince us it has nothing to do with race. Most egregiously, they are working hard to ensure our children can learn nothing from the sins of our nation.
They throw “woke” around like it is some insult. If acknowledging the lasting damage of slavery, genocide, denying women the right to vote, Jim Crow laws, exclusionary acts, xenophobia, internment, red lining, denial of basic freedoms, Islamophobia, and an insurrection, makes me “woke,” then I wear the word with pride. Acknowledging our sin does not make me love my country any less. Witnessing the pain and anguish of Solomon makes me more human. It firmly puts our country’s destiny in my hands.
Spending time with this story and these characters presents an opportunity to learn and question. In Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), we see that a master cloaking himself in God’s word does not absolve you from the sins of slavery. We know this is true, because Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), Solomon’s second “master,” wraps himself in the same religious fervor but uses it as a weapon to treat his property as he sees fit.
Counter to these performances, we see Solomon, stolen from freedom, do all he can to push against the forces of hopelessness. Finally, in Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o), we witness firsthand the cruelty of slavery.
Watching the performances of all four actors, my mind still drifts to thoughts of Florida. No matter what their governor says, there are no positives to be garnered from the act of owning, enslaving, and torturing another human being. History should never judge those who did kindly.
Slavery was a glaring ember of betrayal. It betrayed ideals we hold dear. If there are bright spots to be found in this film, they are in witnessing Solomon’s willingness to return home to his family. We can also find them in the actions of men like Bass (Brad Pitt), who risked it all to right a wrong.
As painful as this film might be, I urge you to revisit it. We are far from finished washing the stench of this sin from our American skin. Others might be hellbent on rewriting the story, but after spending some time with this film, I find myself just as determined to stand in their way.
Be good to each other,
Nathan