“I don’t wanna survive…i wanna live”

12 Years A Slave

TRAILER – For those who for some reason haven’t heard of this

***Spoilers likely but i won’t be going into much detail***

So, you’ve probably at least heard of this film. It seems to be a front runner for a lot of big awards and i don’t think i’ve seen a bad word against it. Directed by Steve McQueen and with an absolutely fantastic cast…I saw this film yesterday.

Well…gosh. It’s quite hard to talk about this film as i would normally because it feels utterly wrong to use phrases like “well that bit was really good” or “i really enjoyed that bit” because that really wouldn’t sit well.

The film is a good film! It really is…if you re-evaluate the term “good” in your head to fit the situation. It’s not nice and entertaining i wouldn’t say you sit through it and enjoy it…but i can certainly appreciate that as a film it is fantastic. It’s certainly a heavy watch…as you would expect with this subject, it’s a brutal and honest account and at between 2 and 2 and a half hours there really isn’t much relief from the mood. I mean…as scenarios you can think of for the end of this film goes…we probably get the best one. But i certainly found myself thinking, “well..that’s a…happy? ending…but i can’t appreciate it at all”.

There were points where i physically had to turn away and it had me crying by the end.

I’ve not really painted a nice picture of this film have i? haha! It is..as you expect, a horrific subject and difficult to watch…but you should..it is an experience!

As i mentioned earlier..what a cast! Really really brilliant all round!

Chiwetel Ejiofor…WOW! He plays Solomon Northup who’s story we follow and he is in pretty much every scene i think, but boy he certainly carries this film and carries it brilliantly! I think this film will do wonderful things for him. He’s been in quite a few films/tv shows if you check out his IMDB page ….but i must admit the only thing i’d really known him for was “that guy who Keira Knightley gets married to in Love Actually but no one pays that much attention to him because that other guy’s in love with her” haha!!

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o especially (who it seems is very new to the acting scene! I hope she gets a lot of work in the future she is truly fantastic!) are amazing.

One thing i will touch on is the fact it is based on a true story. Personally, i tend to struggle to truly see the reality of huge terrible events..whether they be part of history or even now. I have small moments of realisation when the horror truly hits me but i’ve noticed this as i’ve learnt more about myself growing up i find it hard to hold onto that. The film draws to a conclusion by bringing up some small facts about Solomon’s future…how he took those responsible for his treatment to trial..even his kidnappers. Cases which he lost. These facts appearing at the end was something that really drilled it home for me. It’s almost easier to disassociate yourself from the reality of these things when you’re watching a film but you suddenly think “wow..what i just witnessed actually happened” and that’s quite a thought.

I’ll wrap it up by mentioning the score for the film. I’m going to have to look into it more but i saw in the credits it was by Hans Zimmer. No wonder it was beautiful. The music was a part of the film i really noticed and thought i will have to listen to separately…even despite everything else that was going on!

So, as i say….see the film! You should! It’s a marvelous piece! It really does stay with you..i’ve thought about it a lot today!