This is the first film review I’m doing here. I had decided to only post blogs about my artwork here and leave it at that. But, with me being so busy, and not wanting to leave this place empty for extended periods of time, I decided “what the hell”. Also, I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, as this is mostly my reasoning for seeing the film, and how I reacted to it.
I had first heard of “12 Years A Slave” in school. Can’t remember exactly when (middle or high school), but, I had actually seen the one produced by PBS, starring Avery Brooks, and directed by Gordon Parks. That is what lead me to track down the book in the first place. I had been reading anything I could on the history of (black) African people, when/wherever I could find it. The reason being, when I was in elementary school, I had started becoming aware of things like ethnicity/race fairly quickly, and wanted to know the history of people who looked like me. But, I was told, by the black librarian at my school, that the good lord rescued us from our savage selves. And, as such, our history before America was something we needn’t worry ourselves with. Even as a child, I rejected that way of thinking, and did my own research, in public libraries, and my grandmothers various volumes of encyclopedias. And so, a book like ”12 Years A Slave” was right up my alley.
Now, the film itself, I had some reluctance to see. I had grown tired of movies of (black) African people taking crap with dignity. That and being someone else’s pet nigger (credit to Tariq Nasheed for that phrase). As soon as I saw the trailer for “The Help”, I told my mother, “I bet that gets an Oscar, at least”. Anything showing (black) African people either acting coonish, stereotypical, or cowardly in the face of oppression, instant award season stamp of approval. Same thing with “The Blind Side”. A movie showing an African person having to be lead around, and told what to do, APPROVED! And so, when I saw “The Butler”, I was like “Oh, another pet nigger, must be Oscar season”.
But, among the films being release within this slate, was the subject of this post. I remembered it, as previously mentioned, and was conflicted on whether I should see it. As I said before, black pathology is something I had grown tired of, and I had previously seen “The Best Man Holiday”, twice, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. African people looking fly, not making coonish fools of themselves, nobody’s “stomping the yard“, “setting it off“, or “getting served”. Just fly people, doing fly things, being fly all around. But, my reluctance started to subside once I read an article in GQ magazine regarding the film. If ever there was a time to see it, after that article was it.
I passed up a few previous opportunities, but, today (12/09/13) ended up being the day. My square job was letting us off of work early, and I had two choices, “Mandela, The Long Walk To Freedom”, and this one. “Mandela” wasn’t playing anywhere me, and so “12” got the automatic win.
Compared to the book, the film takes some liberties, but mostly in the form of leaving things out, I assume for the purposes of time. The entire movie is almost like a textbook McQueen flick. All throughout the film, there are scenes where the camera just runs, catching all that is happening in that moment. It’s similar to what he did in “Shame”, where Fastbender’s character is just running for about two minutes, straight. You see nothing but him, and the city going by in the background.
One of the scenes that really stood out to me was when “Platt” arrives on Epps’ plantation, and begins reading from the bible, using scripture to justify the cruelty he is about to inflict on them. There was an audible gasp, and outright denial from some audience members to this revelation. The point is hammered home later when Harriet Shaw, wife of one of the slave masters, mentions them (the slave masters) being punished, but only in the next life. I continue to find African people I run into, who are so surprised when confronted with how religion was used to subdue our ancestors. And yet, they will turn around, and use that same religion, to discriminate against other, reasoning, “well, hey, it’s in the bible”.
In the scene following “Platt’s” first whipping, they delay in showing his back. Instead, they have a slaver come in, offer him a new shirt, and, when he takes the old one off, it’s tattered & bloody. That lets you know right there what condition his back is in. This happens all throughout the film, showing you something horrific, without showing you in graphic detail. They do this with lynching as well, as “Platt” is nearly hung for fighting back against a slaver. He is hoisted up, but saved before they can get him high enough off the ground where his feet can’t support his weight. At this point, “Platt” is just stuck there for the rest of the day, being choked, in broad daylight, hanging from a rope, while everyone else just goes about there day. Scenes like this pay off later, when they do actually show, in full, horrifyingly, graphic detail, the things they skimped on before.
There’s a scene later on, where “Platt” entertains the thought of escaping, and runs into a team of slave catchers. The are in the process of preparing two men to be hanged, and “Platt” gets to pass by, as he is on business for his master. As he walks by, the two men look to him, all three helpless to change what they know is about to happen. And that’s when it happens, the two men are yanked into the air, visibly hanging while they choke to death. In THE whipping scene, Epps demands “Platt” beat Patsey, a slave he, Epps, has been having an affair with. She’s also one of “Platt’s” closest friends in the film. He does so, but not to Epp’s satisfaction, and so he takes over, violently hitting her so hard, spatters of blood can be seen from the front, as the camera is mostly focusing on her face. But then, without cutting, the camera rotates, as the whipping is still going on. You can see how deep the cuts have gone into Patsey’s back, and one of them actually goes bone deep. This is when I start to lose control of my own emotions. I had a similar reaction seeing the whipping scene from Django. But not like this, that scene with Patsey was so much more intense and graphic.
As the film goes on, I can hear random sounds throughout the audience, and it starts to irritate me a bit. The really become audible when Northup finally gets his freedom, and is reunited with his family. And that’s when I see it, from one of the men sitting in front of me. He’s wiping tears from his face. The audible noise I let irritate me, was people trying to cover up the sound of them tearing up and crying. And I couldn’t blame them, as I had to hold it in myself, especially knowing how Northup’s story ended.
All & all, I’m of two minds about this film. I’m glad I saw it, but I also, sort of wish I hadn’t. I don’t regret having seen it at all, but, it also put me in one of those head spaces I try to avoid. The deep dark corners of my mind, where I start to justify the unjustifiable because of past transgressions. But, It’s great, and I’d advise anyone to go and see it if they get the chance. And now, I have to get back to work, and stay busy, because, you know, “idle mind….devil’s workshop”, that kind of stuff.
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