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“It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of

the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and

associations that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he

sees and hears that the rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change

his opinions in maturer years.” ― Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave

Based on an incredible true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender), as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) will forever alter his life.

- Written by Fox Searchlight

12 YEARS A SLAVE FILM REVIEW & OSCAR PREVIEW – 1-15-2014 1-15-2014 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts – Journalist/Film Reviewer

FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - David Velo Stewart – Editor – HHBMedia.com

I want to first start of my review of 12 Years a Slave by saying that I had been waiting

almost a year to see it to wash the negative, foul and disgusting taste of Quentin

Tarantino’s Django Unchained out of my mind. I know Django made over $100 Million

in the U.S. at the box office. I know a lot of Black film academics like USC’s Todd Boyd

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went well out of their way to write special Weinstein Co. promoted op-ed pieces saying

Django Unchained was better than Roots—to reinforce the notion that Tarantino had

created the greatest slave film masterpiece ever. And I even know millions upon millions

of Black moviegoers who were huge fans of Django—myself not included. But despite

all the hype and PR nonsense that Django Unchained stirred up last year I was quietly

waiting to see director Steve McQueen’s adaptation of Solomon’s Northup’s powerful

book 12 Years A Slave. Before I even saw the first image of 12 Years a Slave I knew it

was going to be better than Django Unchained because Lionsgate never pushed or

mounted a fake media and social media PR campaign that 12 Years a Slave was the

most authentic, realistic or ultimate slavery film. Nope, sometimes a straight dramatic

narrative that is filled with honest emotions and well written dialogue is always the best

way to tell a story based on real events or people in my opinion. And since 12 Years a

Slave is based on a true story that is why in the long run it will make it an early favorite

to win an Oscar for Best Picture—just like it did at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards.

What I really liked about 12 Years a Slave is how Chiwetel Ejiofor powerful and

passionate performance really drags a modern viewer into the world of slavery like it

has never been done before in Hollywood. And what I mean is that whether you have

seen The Legend Of Nigger Charley (1972), Mandingo (1975), Roots (1977),

Amistad, (1997), Beloved (1998), Django Unchained (2012), etc., we have typically

started with the main Black slave protagonist being a captured slave from Africa. I can

say that one of the most unexplored parts of American History on screen are actually

“free Blacks” who in fact were never born into slavery, bought their way out of slavery or

had no direct experience with the everyday horrors of slavery. I will note that Glory

(1989) did have a mixture of lead Black characters who were free Black men and former

slaves that joined the Union Army. Hollywood has always tried to propagate a myth that

America has always been a racial democracy who has endured a spattering of Southern

based racism. But what 12 Years a Slave does extremely well is let viewers experience

an unspoken fear that no Black man, woman or child in America was safe from

Southern slavery—even if they lived in the North. What happens to Solomon Northup

and could have happened to hundreds of thousands of other free African-Americans

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during the early and mid-1800’s was really wholesale identity theft. It was not bad

enough that the United States was systematically raping Africa of its citizens to come

work for life thousands of miles away—if they survived the journey. But there was also a

thriving and profitable market in the USA of kidnapping and enslaving free Blacks. And

the film pointedly captures the irony that one of the country’s most vile and illegal slave

pens was openly operating in the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington D.C. The

real cinematic importance to me of 12 Years a Slave is that it shows that unstoppable,

arrogance, and greed of Southern slave capitalism was destroying not only the external

image of America as a new democracy, but even the most optimistic beliefs that without

the immediate end of slavery there would never be a truly free Black person in America.

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave has done the Herculean or almost impossible task

of taking a dramatic slave narrative to heights that no one can dismiss or say they had

ever saw before in previous Hollywood or foreign slave themed film or TV docudrama.

Now after stating the undisputed importance of 12 Years a Slave--it is beyond any film

critic debate or social media doubt campaign that the film will garner a Best Picture

nomination. And I list in order of importance the film’s other notable Oscar nominations:

Best Director for Steve McQueen because honestly no moment of 12 Years a Slave is

wasted or lacking in significance from the opening shots to closing credits. Best Actor

for Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northrup because Chiwetel had to deliver a restrained

and measured performance as a free Black man who was deeply believed he was

entitled to the same protections and rights that afford any white men of his era. Once

Solomon finally accepted his reluctant fate of being a slave we had to primarily rely on

Chiwetel’s masterful acting of carefully articulating the amount of anger, frustration and

desperation it took to survive as a slave. Best Supporting Actress for Lupito Nyong’o

as Patsey because you’ve rarely seen such an excellent portrayal from a new actor.

Lupito gives us Patsey a proud woman of color who knows her true value as a cotton

picking prodigy and who would rather die than be treated with no more respect than a

farm animal. Best Supporting Actor for Michael Fassbender because the naked

honesty and unflinching cruelty of the slave master Edwin Epps was more believable

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and most likely more representative of all slave masters than anyone truly wants to

contemplate or accept. Best Adapted Screenplay by John Ridley because the dialect

in 12 Years a Slave was always authentic, relatable and devoid of contrived clichés and

pretentious speeches. Best Cinematography to Sean Bobbit for beautifully capturing

all the majestic plantation scenery with as much detail as the savage brutal slave

whipping of Patsey. Furthermore, Bobbit should be commend for getting all the dark,

light and multi-hued skin tones of the African-American actors in the most realistic and

natural light. It may sound silly, but it is not given even in 2014 that a major Hollywood

film with a large cast of dark skinned minority or African-American actors will always be

shot correctly. Best Production Design for Adam Stochausen & Alice Baker and Best

Costume Design for Patricia Norris because one of the best aspects of 12 Years a

Slave are the small details like the starkness of the slave shacks and Slave’s simple

clothing. And the bleakness and realism of the film’s production design and costumes

were brought out so forcefully when Patsey is willing to risk being beaten to death

because she dared sneak off Edwin’s plantation to borrow scraps of soap because she

smelled so bad she could not even take it anymore. And my last Oscar nomination Best

Original Score should go to 12 Years a Slave’s Hans Zimmer for creating many

stirring, delicate and complimentary period musical interludes throughout the film. Now

whether 12 Years a Slave can actually run the table and actually garner ten valid and

highly deserved Oscar nominations is not so much as a long shot when one considers

that last year Django Unchained got five Oscar nods and won 2 for Best Original

Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. But I do know that even if 12 Years a Slave

gets showered with Oscar love it will have heavyweight competition from American

Hustle and Gravity that will be competing with the film in virtually all of those same ten

Oscar categories. I will breakdown all the Oscar drama, soon enough. But I am sure

many Black folks will be tweeting and posting on Facebook about how American

Hustle and Gravity stand no chance against 12 Years a Slave. And that be true, but

nothing and I repeat personally believe many Hollywood liberals and socially-minded

activists would like to have a “Black film” and a “Black director” get an Oscar to send a

strong message of unity and diversity. But I also know from 30 years of experience that

nothing is a lock or a guarantee in Hollywood when it comes to the Academy Awards.

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