12 Years A Slave is the most acclaimed film of the year. It has scored 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 97 on Metacritic, and so far has the most precursor award nominations of any film released this year. In addition, it has grossed almost $30 million against a $20 million budget, having just expanded into wide release; to say it's the Oscar favorite is an understatement, and it will certainly be facing off against critic favorite/box office behemoth Gravity for much of the awards season.
I was blown away by Gravity, completely and utterly in awe of the technical achievement, and the beautiful performance that Sandra Bullock gave. Up until 12 Years, it was my pick for Best Picture.
A lot of people are turned off at the subject matter: "Another slavery movie?", "Another period film?", "Ugh, typical Oscar movie", "It looks boring" are among the comments I've heard from being asked about the film. Many movies about slavery have never really gotten into the cold hard facts: It was a horrible experience, that was completely life altering in every way imaginable. Never has a film so accurately displayed the horrors of slavery, never has a film grabbed me and forced me to examine what it was showing, and never has a film blown me away quite in the way 12 Years A Slave did. Make no mistake, just because the film is set in the mid 1800s, does not mean the film is any less important. In fact, I'd say that 12 Years A Slave is one of the most important films to ever be made, of any year.
Much of the power of the film, is due to the fact that this is a true story. Based on the autobiography of the same name by Solomon Northup (played masterfully in the film by Chiwetwl Ejiofor). It's not as if these are fake characters acting out real acts, everything in the film has been faithfully adapted, and actually happened.
Northup, a talented violinist, was a free man living in Saratoga Springs, New York with his wife and two children. One weekend while his family is away, he is invited to play Violin for a touring gig by two wealthy men who promise to pay him well for his troubles. They invite him out to dinner, drink wine, and trade stories. It seems like a dream come true for Solomon, almost too good to be true. That's because it is: the next morning, Solomon wakes up, chained in a basement; he has been drugged and sold into slavery.
The film follows Solomon's time as a slave, spanning over a decade. Chiwetwl Ejiofor's performance as Northup is a nothing short of a marvel. Many scenes require the actor to tell the story of Solomon's pain with his face, but it's his eyes that do all the acting; they're like crystal balls, telling the audience of the overwhelming despair Solomon is saddled with, but do a great job at simultaneously conveying the light of hope burning alive inside; his flame will not be snuffed out. Though the film is masterful on every level, it belongs to Ejiofor; he is the one to beat for every Best Actor award this year, and if I were handing out the awards, I'd throw them all at him (in a lavish way of course!).
Also devastatingly impressive, from the supporting cast, is newcomer Lupita Nyong'o. She plays Patsey, a young slave who picks more cotton than any other slave owned by plantation owner Epps (Michael Fassbender, amazing in an otherwise evil, easy to hate but mesmerizing role), who frequently rapes and abuses her. Many of her scenes are reactive, silent scenes, requiring her to do some nonverbal acting, but when she is given the chance to speak, it's like fireworks. I couldn't believe this was her first feature role; you'd think she was a veteran (though she has studied at the Yale School of Drama). It's a star making performance that will break your heart and have you wondering "What happened to Patsey?" long after you leave the theater; she stays with you.
Nyong'o shares many of her scenes with Sarah Paulson who plays the wife of Michael Fassbender's character. As Mrs. Epps, Paulson matches her husband's maliciousness, and jacks it up 100,000,000 notches by terrorizing poor Patsey for stealing her husband's affections/attention. When she comes onscreen, you can feel the icyness radiating off of her, and though they're completely awful, Paulson and Fassbender are an acting marvel together onscreen.
I could rave about 12 Years A Slave all night, however, I think my Mac Book's battery would die out before I finished saying all of the compliments I have for the film, and I'm much to lazy to go grab my charger. What I will make a point of saying, however, is that even though the film is brutal, and harrowing, and forces you to witness these atrocities (you are literally unable to look away, I tried, but I couldn't bring myself to), it is an important, and heartbreakingly beautiful experience. I saw it almost a week ago, and it's taken me this long to get over being blown away to form concise thoughts about my love for the movie. Films like this do not come around very often. So many times we are subjected to mindless dribble and popcorn entertainment, and that's fine, but films have a duty to inform, and educate. And many more times, those informative films lose their message in the journey to generate box office receipts, i.e. "This is too hard for audiences to watch", or "too hard for audiences to figure out, so we're going to leave this out so people will actually come see our movie". I am so happy a film like 12 Years A Slave was not only made, but is doing well at the box office. This is honest, powerful, thought provoking and masterful filmmaking at its peak. It's unapologetic for being harrowing, and in fact, the honest brutality of the film is the reward; never have I left the theater being so affected and moved.
I encourage you, much like I did when I reviewed Gravity, to go see 12 Years A Slave. 2013 is a really great year for film, and this film is the year's crowning achievement. It's not often a film like this is released; take advantage of it. This is the film of the year.
Oscar Chances: Expect to see 12 Years A Slave nominated in every category its eligible for, and expect it to win Picture & Director (though it'll face some steep competition from Gravity [and deservedly so]), Actor, Supporting Actress for Nyong'o, and Screenplay. I really hope Sarah Paulson also makes it into Supporting Actress with Nyong'o (much like Amy Adams and Melissa Leo, or Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga, etc), to make up for the injustice of her Emmy loss back in September; she's a really great actress and this film gives her some time to flex her acting muscles.
Grade: 10/10
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