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Welcome to French Toast Sunday’s new feature that is all about YOUR opinions. Talk It Out is designed to generate group discussion on specific movies, general topics and other burning questions plaguing the movie world. We want movie fans to unite and bring with them whatever it is they want to say. Keep reading to join in our discussion topic.

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What Did You Think of 12 Years A Slave?

12 Years A Slave has had some of the highest praise of any films this year. As the release rolls out into more theaters across the country over the past few weeks more and more opinions have been coming in. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes provides the consensus: “It’s far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave‘s unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant — and quite possibly essential — cinema.”

The movie tells the real life story of a born free man sold into slavery in his 30’s. Slate and Time have done in depth articles on the film, providing interesting perspectives about race and American ideals. Check them out here:

We Can Be Heroes (Slate)
12 Years a Slave and Mandela: Two Tales of Racism Survived (Time)

 

Below you’ll find the film’s trailer and synopsis:

“’12 Years a Slave’ is 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.”

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Two weeks after Lindsay and I sat down together at the screener of 12 Years A Slave, we’ve had time to digest and sit on it while having in length discussions on the matter. We both thought the film was fine, but we found ourselves both underwhelmed based on the mass praise of the film. We just expected a bit more than what we got, which, while undoubtedly a brutal depiction of slavery, really added up to no more than a by-the-numbers approach to the story thematically. It features some fantastic performances but also some puzzling choices with the story or editing at times, and its share of hammy dialogue (specifically from Brad Pitt, for example). Maybe it’s an issue with expectations, but I can think of so many more ways I would have rather experienced this film than moving from “awful thing that happens” to “next awful thing”. I give credit for the film providing an unflinching view on the subject, but there’s not more to grasp onto beyond that. It’s hard to watch and there’s surely moments that are quite awe-inspiring, but is it really that brilliant if it doesn’t grind into the themes that are just sitting there under the surface waiting to be explored?

Listen to our more in depth breakdown of our issues with the film during our latest podcast.

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Have you seen the film yet or do you want to see it? Do you think this is a lock for Best Picture? Think we’re dead wrong or are you in the minority with us disappointed viewers? And yeah, the men in this film sort of dominate the screen time, but how fantastic were Lupita Nyong’o and Sarah Paulson?! Feel free to let us know what you think or even leave a link to your review in the comments if you have already reviewed it on your personal blog.

What Did You Think of 12 Years A Slave?

 

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9 Responses

  1. Squasher88

    Well, I personally thought the film was absolutely brilliant. In terms of exploring themes, I wasn’t disappointed as I expected Steve McQueen to use his visuals to relate that, rather than dialogue or plot points. He’s a very unique stylist, so if you go in expecting the typical method of exploring themes, then I can understand how you would be disappointed.

    Specifically, here are a few thematic elements that stood out to me:

    Reglion/Spirituality:
    – Epps quoting the bible..”beaten with many stripes”
    – Solomon joining the singing at the funeral, finding some amout of hope and solace.

    Apathy:
    – That famous long take with the noose.
    – Benedict Cumberbatch’s character.

    In addition, the unrelenting brutality was necessary to realistically capture the brutality of the situation. It’s a particularly stark contrast for the protagonist, who was taken from a pleasant life and then dragged into hell.

    • Jess

      I got all of those thematic elements, but they’re more just symbolic moments. I got the intention for instance that the two slave owner’s bible passages were parallel to their position over the slaves. I got that the moment with Solomon joining in on the singing meant he was sort of giving into his new life and joining in with a spiritual moment that other slaves used to get through their lives. I just don’t think any of those things are that intricate or hard to figure out. That’s what I mean by surface level.

      Maybe it’s more to do with what I was looking for and not really getting. Like to me, one of the themes that I thought would have been really interesting to explore is how Solomon was able to escape his situation, and that makes him lucky. You are so happy that he was able to get out of it, but he’s like a drop in the pond compared to the masses that had no such luck. Since you’re really only introduced to one other slave in depth everyone else just drops to the background and you’re sort of left off the hook to have to consider the fate of everyone else.

      Also, they had really interesting chances to explore Ford’s crisis of conscious but instead chose really generic statements to show good vs. bad.

      The hanging scene was one of the best in the film. That is certainly one of the awe-inspiring moments I mentioned.

      I don’t have an issue with the brutality. It was completely necessary and not overdone in the least. I just think that by the end that was the main takeaway from the film – slavery was brutal. I didn’t need this movie to prove that to me. I wanted something beyond that.

      I think it’s a good film, just not something I’d consider brilliant.

      • Linds

        I have to agree with Jess on most of these points (as you may have already figured)

        I wasn’t disappointed in McQueen’s “unique styling”, in fact, I actually expected the movie to roll in a much different direction than it did. There were a few scenes that felt similar to his other work (the hanging scene for instance) which were far and away the better moments of the film. But I felt like the script and path of the story were both handled with very little complexity. Like Jess said, there was a lot of room to tackle much more compelling issues and intriguing omissions from the source material/true events so I feel like I can only partially admire what McQueen did with the material here.

        The thematic points you touched on were more than obvious and the brutal violence was expected on my part. I have no issues with the violence depicted. It’s completely authentic to the story.

        Overall, I just felt like there were a lot of disjointed moments throughout the story that took away from the movie as a whole. Instead of focusing on the main characters personal story the movie chose to shine a light on a multitude of atrocities that rose during slavery. I understand that some might say the movie did both but the elements of Solomon’s actual story that were excluded from the film seem to prove otherwise I think my personal problems with the film are just that, personal. I wanted and expected something completely different from the film I ended up watching.

        Thanks for commenting, btw! I’m loving the discussion so far

        • Courtney

          I’ve noticed others also experiencing disappointments with McQueen presentation, but I thought his delivery was necessary. I think through other films, literature and countless history courses, that “something” sitting under the surface waiting to be explored is touched upon. I think most of us grasp the how and the why and the personal account stories, but don’t REALLY absorb the “what it was really like” until someone like McQueen paints it out for us on screen unapologetically. I’m not really sure what level you wanted him to reach, but I think his presentation is something the general public needs to be educated with.

          I’m from Louisiana. This was required reading in high school along with a dissection of the Civil War and Louisiana history. I get it. It’s been engrained in my memory for so long, but, for me, McQueen filled a visual void of the brutality that was endured that a lecture couldn’t generate for me. I’ll never look at another plantation here the same again that’s for sure.

          • Linds

            Obviously I’m never going to be able to fully understand what it was like to go through. I understand how 12 Years A Slave would be eye opening to a lot of people I just wasn’t one of them. I thought everything that happened was heartbreaking but not unexpected. It was a pretty miserable time where awful, horrific atrocities were taking place. I would have preferred a more personal story then the broad scope McQueen ran with. That’s obviously a personal preference.

            I felt a disconnect on a filmmaking level as well though. McQueen seems to be one of those directors that either gives me too much or not enough. A few scenes in this movie were really fantastic and effective. But then other scenes felt out of place within the movie. And I really disliked the moments with Brad Pitt’s character.

  2. Rosie

    It was a very good and powerful film. But there were some problems. I found Michael Fassbender’s Edwin Epps rather one-dimensional and hammy, except in a few scenes. I found some of the dialogue rather stagy. It brought back some negative memories of the dialogue in “GODS AND GENERALS”. And some of the plot points in the story struck me as historically inaccurate. I’ve never heard of African-Americans eating in the dining room of a fashionable hotel in 1841 Washington DC. And Northup did not stay in a room close or next door to white guests. He slept in a room that was around the back of the hotel. What kind of boat/ship conveyed Northup to Louisiana in this movie? A ship or a riverboat? And the killing of the slave portrayed by Michael K. Williams, by a white sailor would have gotten in the latter in serious trouble. He couldn’t just kill a slave because the latter barely tried to stop him from having sex with a female slave. The slave portrayed by MKW was valuable property. The sailor would have found himself in deep financial trouble.

    But despite these problems, “12 YEARS A SLAVE” was still pretty damn good.

    • Jess

      Thanks for the comment! I definitely agree that a lot of the writing/acting especially towards the beginning felt stagey. It took me out of it. I thought Fassbender was as exceptional as usual though. I was unsure of a lot of the exact facts going on in this, but yeah it seemed kind of surprising that he was so free to mingle with the upper class whites in DC. One thing I read was that the man who was murdered on the ship didn’t even die that way. That was one of the inventions of the film–in real life he died of illness. For a film so realistic that really bothers me.

      Another thing I am very curious about but can’t find any good info on was Northup’s position under Epps. Under the summary on wiki (not the best resource I know but I’m sure it would be altered by now if untrue) it says “He held Northup enslaved for 10 years, during which time he assigned the New Yorker to various roles from cotton picker to hauler to driver, which required he oversee the work of fellow slaves and punish them for undesirable behavior.” I know there’s the scene where Northup whips Patsey, but the description here makes it sound like he was a full time driver. THAT would have been a very interesting depiction and I’m disappointed if that was chosen to be glossed over because it would be a difficult idea to grapple with.

  3. Rosie

    The 1984 television version has its own inaccuracies, like this new version directed by McQueen. But it did featured Northup working in a series of tasks that included being a field driver.

    • Jess

      hmm I feel like that must have been a very deliberate change to this story.. not like “oh we just don’t have enough time to do this” but a “I would rather not get into all of that” choice.