I recently attended a screening of 12 Years a Slave, a movie that is receiving significant Oscar buzz and accolades from many film critics. From nods to the director’s brilliance, to rave reviews of the performances given by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and guest appearance by Brad Pitt, this will be the talk of the season. I’ve read several reviews and perspectives on the movie already ranging from fellow black folk who question why we need another film about slavery to general market critics who are talking about how horrific yet realistic the scenes are. I have been anticipating this movie ever since the movie’s director and visual artist Steve McQueen mentioned it during his visit to Chicago last fall to promote the exhibit of his previous films Hunger, Shame and his visual work at the Art Institute of Chicago. I knew the film was going to be impactful given the eye McQueen brings to his work but I could not have conceived of how I would feel while watching the film and how I still feel after seeing it. Run, do not walk to go see this film when it comes out. Here’s why:- It will make you feel very uncomfortable and maybe sad; but it should do this. McQueen has brought to the screen a very personal story of a free black man during the antebellum era, Solomon Northrup, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery away from his family and the life he had. The scenes portraying the slave condition are horrendous, disgusting, scary, unsettling, and frankly, nightmarish. This brutality is important though to underscore why this period in our history should not be forgotten, although many people would like to forget it as if the remnants of this time in our country’s history don’t still persist today. Not just the economic impact both on those whose families and progeny benefitted from free labor but those whose ancestors are still reeling from it.
- If you ever questioned why the “n” word needs to be retired from music and our cultural lexicon, this movie will push you over the edge toward putting the nail in the coffin. I won’t give anything away but there is a scene in the film with a song repeating that word over and over – which unfortunately sounds like some of the music in heavy rotation in the hip hop space. Slaves are consistently referred to with that word throughout the film reflecting the custom of the time; it replaced the “Mr.” and “Mrs” titles for blacks as in “n” word and then your last name. It’s enough to make the most hardened user of the “n” word rethink the history of it a bit and its application today.
- It should shed some light on people’s oft-felt confusion around why African Americans have a love-hate relationship with America. Ponder this, when slavery took place, history does not reveal another country intervening on the slave community’s behalf to stop the inhumane acts that took place. It can all be tied back to economics, for this country would not be what it is today without the free, enforced labor of slavery. Point blank period. Not “bootstrappers” or really intelligent people, but the labor that was imported into the Americas that helped to create the superpower we know of today.
- This was one individual’s story about his experience as a slave. The movie is based on the true story of Solomon Northrup’s life. Sometimes films that portray slavery paint it with a broad brush to try to fit everything that took place over 400 years within a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes. McQueen takes as much time as he could (more than two hours) to present one man’s story and the degradation he endured. The viewer sees one micro perspective, a slice of the American slave’s life that we can’t imagine today. Some of us have the benefit of relatives who have the stories that have been passed down from the grandchildren of former slaves, but many more don’t know this history and how many of the film’s themes can be pulled through to today. We should not forget or erase history. And we should acknowledge that slavery still continues in many parts of the world today, including sex slavery.
Do yourself a favor and see this film and encourage others to see it. I hope McQueen does become the first black person to win a Best Director Oscar for 12 Years a Slave, but beyond the awards, I do hope it opens some eyes and minds as well.
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