12 Years a Slave is a film full of barbaric acts, but the
image that has remained most prominent in my thoughts since I saw the film is a
simple close-up on a bar of soap. When slave girl Patsey (the astonishing newcomer Lupita Nyong'o)
leaves the plantation to acquire the soap, she is whipped savagely upon
her return at the behest of the plantation owner Epps (Michael Fassbender) in a
scene of almost unbearable ferocity that unfolds in a single take. When the
violence has finally abated, and her hands are untied, she drops the soap that
she has clung onto throughout her ordeal. Patsey wanted nothing more than to
bathe and to rid herself of the stench that is making her gag, but that simple
privilege was denied her, and instead she was punished for her insolence.
In this scene and others, 12 Years a Slave shows us how
slavery de-humanised those who fell victim to it. The film's physical violence
will surely draw plenty of attention, but Steve McQueen never lets us overlook
the emotional, physical and spiritual violence that the back characters in the
film are forced to endure. We see black men and women standing naked in a room
as they are inspected by potential owners like livestock; we see a group of
slaves forced to clap along as their overseer (Paulo Dano) sings a song
entitled Run, Nigger, Run; We see a mother (Adepero Oduye) succumb
to grief after being separated from her two children, only to be coldly reassured
by the plantation owner's wife that she will soon forget her offspring. What's
telling about many of these scenes is how easily they come to the white
characters and how the degradation of black people is viewed an everyday part
of life; simply the natural order of things. Even Brad Pitt's
abolition-favouring character liberally refers to "niggers" in his
speech, and two circus promoters talk about one of their attractions being an
exotic specimen "from darkest Africa" as they sit in a restaurant
with Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
12 Years a Slave has been adapted from Northup's memoir,
which he published in 1854, and the story he tells is so incredible it seems
remarkable that it hasn't been brought to the screen before now. Northup was an
educated free man living with his family in New York in 1841. A talented
musician and a respected member of the local community, he seemed safely ensconced from the
horrors of the slave trade, but on an trip to Washington he was given drink until he
passed out and when he awoke he was in chains, his former identity having been
stripped from him. Northup changes hands on a number of occasions during the
film, from slave trader Freeman (Paul Giamatti) – who claims his sentimentality
"extends no further than a coin" – to plantation owner Ford (Benedict
Cumberbatch), whose own sense of inner conflict over the ownership of slaves is
interesting and perhaps underexplored, before landing with the brutal, scripture-spouting Epps.
It is during the time spent with Ford that McQueen stages
one of the film's most memorable sequences, as Northup is punished for an
infraction by being hung from a tree, able to keep himself alive by standing on
the tips of his toes. For hours he languishes there, as slaves go about their
business in the background, none daring to even acknowledge him never mind consider cutting him down. Eventually, one runs up to him with a drink of water, before
scurrying nervously away. Throughout 12 Years a Slave, McQueen and his
cinematographer Sean Bobbitt find simple but powerful images that speak
volumes about the situation and the characters' positions within it. McQueen's undeniably
potent sense of visual composition serves the fluid, increasingly involving
narrative beautifully here. 12 Years a Slave is artfully crafted with scenes
that exhibit remarkable technical virtuosity but it is all aimed at drawing the
viewer into the story rather than drawing attention to the technique. There's something rather old-fashioned and classical
about the manner in which 12 Years a Slave's story unfolds, but its emotional
power builds quietly and without recourse to sentimentality, almost sneaking up on the viewer. McQueen's dispassionate
approach is perfectly attuned to this material.
A lot of the film's power comes from Chiwetel Ejiofor's
central performance. McQueen gets so much from his face alone, with his
expression reflecting the acts of inhumanity that take place in front of him
and showing us his own inner turmoil as he suppresses his intelligence and true
feelings simply to survive. Ejiofor leads an exceptional ensemble of actors,
all of whom superbly portray characters affected and compromised in some way by
the sin of slavery, but it Northup's extraordinary redemptive journey that
gives the film its satisfying and emotionally overwhelming impact. "Your
story is amazing, and in no good way," Northup is told towards the end of
the film, after revealing what he has been through. It truly is an amazing
story, and the best thing one can say about the manner in which Steve McQueen has brought it to the screen is that he has done that story justice.