"12 Years A Slave" (2013), Directed by Steve McQueen, Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Co-Starring Lupita Nyongo

[DonRocks]

When I was young, I saw Roots (1977) and Holocaust (1978), and they were both very hard on me, nearly impossible to finish.

But I don't think any film or series has been more difficult for me to watch than 12 Years A Slave (2013). It took me two days to get through it, and I'm surprised I did (I simply cannot watch people being tortured, even if it's "just a movie.")

SPOILERS

Perhaps the most amazing thing about this film is that, for a couple of hours, it made *me* a slave. From the time Solomon Northup woke up in chains, up until the time when I was mercifully allowed to see Brad Pitt (a character who I've never been so relieved to see in a movie), I was immersed in sheer Hell. It was as close to a visceral reaction as I've ever had from a film.

This movie is tough, tough going, and spares nothing in terms of brutality. I have never wanted to jump through a movie screen, and choke the living shit out of people, as much as I wanted to with 12 Years A Slave.

I once asked a friend of mine if he watched Shoah. "Yes, I watched the whole thing because I promised myself I would," he said. This is sort of like that - if you want movie-watching pleasure, steer well-clear of 12 Years A Slave, but if you're looking to examine things in this world, you owe it to about twelve-million people to suffer through, and suffer you will.

Some quotes that resonate with me:

"It's a film made for a mass audience, but it doesn't want them to feel comfortable for a second."

-- Tom Huddleston, TimeOut.com

"It's the unhappiest happy ending I've ever seen ...."

-- Dana Stevens, Slate.com

"It is a film that necessity and education demand seeing."

-- David Thompson, The New Republic

"I've never seen a sequence [referring to the extended hanging punishment scene] that so elegantly uses duration to lay out an ecosystem of power and powerlessness ...."

-- Wesley Morris, Grantland.com

"Indeed, it's embarrassing for America that a British director, Steve McQueen ("Shame"), should have had to make this film at all, and that in 2013 it should constitute a breakthrough in cinema for American slavery to be depicted as something entirely evil."

-- Mick LaSalle, SFgate.com

There will be more, but I need a break.

[naxos]

When I was young, I saw Roots (1977) and Holocaust (1978), and they were both very hard on me, nearly impossible to finish.

But I don't think any film or series has been more difficult for me to watch than 12 Years A Slave (2013). It took me two days to get through it, and I'm surprised I did (I simply cannot watch people being tortured, even if it's "just a movie.")

 

It's the only film I have ever walked out of in the theater- too much for me. I went to Barnes and Noble to wait for my friends who remained til the end.