The critic I chose was Susan Wloszczyna from Rogerebert.com.
The review I read was for “12 years a
slave” directed by Steve McQueen of Great Britain. Wloszczyna
gave the movie a score of 88 out of 100 on meatcritc.com and 3 ½ out of 4
stars.
Wloszczyna seems to like
the movie, but is not completely sold on the entire story. She says that 12 Years a Slave “is a somber, meditative, almost poetic film
that delivers the horrors of bondage stripped down and head-on.”
However, she found the wife of the
second slave owner to be too one dimensional and found it hard to believe that
the free and refined Solomon Northup would ever have been tricked into
travelling with two white men and then wake up (after being drugged) a slave on
his way to the south.
I have to say after seeing the
movie with my family that I disagree somewhat with her review. Wloszczyna seems disturbed, even
offended by the horror that unfolds in 12 years. The scenes of slaves being
whipped, one where the flesh is ripped off, seems too graphic for her taste.
She says “Even Mel
Gibson, whose unbearable 5-minute whipping scene in "The Passion of the Christ" set the standard for such
graphic cinematic punishment, would be aghast if not envious of how British
director Steve McQueen ensures that the audience palpably feels the flesh-ripping agony of every
lashing and beating on screen.”
The brutality and cruelty of slavery is
a truth that is depicted in the film quite realistically and often gut wrenchingly.
I was hard to watch, but as a friend of mine said, I owe to my ancestors to watch.
The nudity in the film was necessary to show how the slaves were dehumanized
and not thought of as people, but property and things.
Although the reviewer gave the movie a
relatively good rating, I think that her desire to make the feel less “harsh”
is a self-serving position. It would be feel better for the film to be “easier”
for us to watch, but that’s what makes 12 years so incredible, the honesty of
it and that it’s not easy to watch.
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