Saw 12 Years A Slave last week.....It's a really well told story with beautiful cinematography.
And....it's intense, but bearable. I think the fear of seeing
slavery, is so big that for some, we feel we can't stand to see it. If
you saw Django, on my scale of violence, the physical brutality in 12 Years was just
a bit more ugly. The difference here though, is that the most brutal beatings,
are reserved for a small beautiful blameless, young black woman. Beautiful,
black as coal and petite, she picks 500 pounds of cotton a day,
everyday, far surpassing the production of many men on the plantation. However she is hated and victimized by the jealous wife of her ignorant and brutal owner who sexually prefers her.
The film is steeped in a palpable anxiety that is intense. So
it's the psychological torture that Soloman and all enslaved people
experienced that infects the viewer. Like dodging objects coming out of
the screen when sitting in a good 3D movie, the viewer can not escape
succumbing mentally to the torture, ignorance and realities of the
vicious ways of American Southern white people.
I felt like my entire body was clinched throughout the majority of the
film. Disbelief, frustration, despair, resignation and determination to
survive all teeter back and forth with futility and the feeling that
death would be better than this torture.
In fact, we are only spared this
harrowing anxiety at the film's very beginning and at the very end. But even in the respite offered at
the end, Soloman's humble words, along with all that is portrayed in his face leave one gripped. All the ease and grace of his natural character have suffered catastrophic attack, and the profound emotional change in this intelligent, talented and once highly confident man, makes one shudder.
As I write this brief review, I realize that my main impression, is that this is a movie that you feel. Get ready for a visceral experience.
lovu,
Kendke
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