The film 12 Years a Slave won the 86th Academy Award for Best Picture, and despite some criticism, it deserved it. Without getting into any Oscar-related stuff, let’s get straight to the film itself, and 12 Years a Slave has plenty of reasons to give it a thumbs up from the bottom of your heart. More or less, there will be people who will feel a certain degree of depression during the movie, even a feeling that they may have never experienced before but feel uncomfortable or even nauseated by it. These feelings will not turn you off, but will instead make you respect it in a more profound way.
Steve McQueen’s almost realistic recreation of a tragic individual in a brutal time, and a series of long, almost indifferent, “bystander shots” create an atmosphere so cold that the viewer can clearly feel a sense of depression, discomfort and even disgust as they watch. The fixed camera positions, the long shots, the brutal whipping and the unapologetic representation of the scars are some of the most shocking scenes in 12 Years a Slave.
A similar shot is seen in the sequence where Solomon is hung from a tree trunk, his feet needing constant pointing and stamping to safeguard against hanging. The sweltering heat, the relentless ropes and the long, restrained and unapologetic shots reveal the brutality of the nineteenth century American South. Although the cultural and historical differences make it difficult to really relate to the film in any way, the oppressive atmosphere it creates makes us feel the pain of losing our freedom.
Twelve Years a Slave does not seek to make itself whole by disgusting others, but rather to bring out thoughts of freedom, dignity and life through a straightforward interrogation. This is one of the things that makes the film so respectable, as it is based on truth, without deliberate exaggeration or fearful avoidance.
It is not just the shocking truth that makes such a film, which is not so dramatic in its storyline or even bland throughout, so gripping to the audience. It is the meaning of freedom and life that is derived from this truth.
After losing one’s freedom, one’s remaining hope is often the desire to live. As the film’s protagonist Solomon cries out from the bottom of his heart, after losing his freedom, what he wants is not just to survive, but to live. If, in the context of the times, the fate of the individual can only manifest itself in an unrelenting desire for the basic conditions of survival, it is already a sign that the sadness of the times has reached a certain level of horror. When people lose their desire for freedom, their quest for life, a coldness has set in. The good thing is that there are still people like Solomon, Patsy and Bass who retain their desire for freedom and life and have the courage to be great in their pursuit of it. Twelve years, for a man who once enjoyed freedom and embraced a happy life, the pain of losing it and the despair of being away from it is unimaginable.
It is the pain of losing freedom and the despair of being away from life that the film shows so realistically, highlighting how valuable the courage to pursue freedom is and how respectable the tenacity to pursue life is. It is only through loss that one learns to cherish, and in this way the film reminds people how precious it is to have freedom and life. It’s more about freedom than poetry and distance, isn’t it?
Many people will take a long breath after watching the film and then feel a sense of gratitude because the absence of freedom and life is unbearably depressing, while the possession of freedom and life is so blissful. In this way, 12 Years a Slave offers a warning and a reflection that gives people a chance to reawaken to the preciousness of freedom and life. This is what makes the film shine even after it is over, and what makes it so respectful.
While we complain about all the hardships of life, we are also the targets of envy and jealousy on the part of some people. Do you know that those who were abducted to black brick kilns, those who were forced to beg on the streets every day, and others who were controlled for their freedom, could they also hold on to their thirst for freedom and life for twelve years? It is hard to imagine, because it is too cruel. What we can do is to cherish the freedom that is in our hands, to cherish the salty or bland life, and to grasp each new day.
