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12 Years a Slave
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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March 4, 2014 "Please retry" | — | 18 |
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| $509.64 | — |
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| $4.95 | $4.00 |
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| $6.00 | $4.75 |
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| $12.56 | $12.51 |
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Genre | Drama |
Format | Multiple Formats, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Color, Widescreen, AC-3, Dubbed |
Contributor | Chiwetel Ejiofor, Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender, Michael K. Williams |
Language | English |
Runtime | 2 hours and 13 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
From acclaimed director Steve McQueen comes this "deeply evocative and brilliantly acted" film (Claudia Puig, USA Today) based on the true story of Solomon Northup. It is 1841, and Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an accomplished, free citizen of New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of all dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) and must find the strength within to survive. Filled with powerful performances by an astonishing cast that includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt and newcomer Lupita Nyongo, 12 YEARS A SLAVE is both an unflinching account of slavery in American history and a celebration of the indomitable power of hope.
Amazon.com
Maybe it had to take a British filmmaker to depict clearly the United States' greatest failing: the horrors of centuries of slavery. In 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kinky Boots, Dirty Pretty Things) is a free man living in New York until he's kidnapped and sold in Louisiana as a slave. He's owned by masters relatively kind (Benedict Cumberbatch) and harrowingly brutal (Michael Fassbender), but even under the best conditions, the movie never loses sight of Northup's condition as property, that his well-being and very life are at the whim of his owners. There's no hype here, nor any hemming or hawing; each scene is captured simply but vividly, letting the cruel facts of life in the pre-Civil War era speak for themselves. The movie's power lies in the unsettling details and psychological contortions slavery inflicts on everyone involved, black and white. Performances are fantastic throughout, including supporting work from Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Lupita Nyong'o, Brad Pitt, and particularly Alfre Woodard as a slave who's gained a position of comfort and clings to it with haughty entitlement. But it's Ejiofor who anchors the movie; his mix of intelligence and fundamental decency carries 12 Years a Slave to a moving conclusion. From Steve McQueen, director of Hunger and Shame. --Bret Fetzer
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.40:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 0.32 ounces
- Item model number : FXSE2288096DVD
- Director : Steve McQueen
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Color, Widescreen, AC-3, Dubbed
- Run time : 2 hours and 13 minutes
- Release date : March 4, 2014
- Actors : Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael K. Williams, Michael Fassbender
- Dubbed: : French, Spanish
- Subtitles: : Spanish, English
- Studio : 20th Century Fox
- ASIN : B00G4Q3KOC
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #15,332 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #2,414 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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12 Years a Slave Official Trailer
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Exclusive Q&A with Chiwetel Ejiofor
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Q&A With Director Steve McQueen
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Undoubtedly - one cannot start this review without singing praises in regards to the set design and choices made by the costume department; the location (And even in fields near the location Northup was kept as a slave in real life) in which shooting occurred alone does much to immerse audience members into a situation that is not considered common place in our modern - era.
The Real Genius however, were the techniques implemented to enhance the visceral experience while watching this film. There are often moments where sounds related to being enslaved (Such as, singing, wailing, and the like) begin as the focal point of a scene and slowly become what is heard in the background of another scene as it begins. In addition to this, scenes meant to encapsulate the brutality of slavery (Like one in which Solomon is hung from a tree and barely survives) are defined by a poignant silence that only becomes more uncomfortable the longer a scene is almost forcibly continued. The soul beckons at the nature of which these elements are combined - When will it stop! When will it stop?! - and gives the audience a tiny morsel of the thoughts that must have been plaguing the minds of the figures being portrayed in real life.
‘12 Years A Slave’ boasts an ensemble cast at its hip and delivers performances that carry significant weight regardless of their length. The emotions that are conveyed - ranging from reckless ambivalence to profound idealism - are seamlessly included and offer an additional layer of authenticity to the characters and the totality of their separate situations. There is a glimmer of optimism and hope that is carefully applied without inching into the realm of overzealous naivety. Nyong'o - whom won best supporting actress for this film - flawlessly embodies the ferocity of her character and draws empathy in doses that are both expected and unconventional.
Being a well research film, it has been confirmed that much of the content contained in this one is accurate and there is some amount of documentation (including Northrup’s memoir) substantiating the chronicled events; none of the characters are created for the sake of forcing the film to its conclusion and even the personality of real life figures is distinguishably maintained.
Regardless, I have seen some complaints; specifically, I have seen some complaints that ‘12 Years A Slave’ doesn’t explain the ~nature~ in which this system built on the backbone of racist value was able to grow and thrive. I humbly suggest that these criticism be lightly tossed aside, for a variety of reasons
!) This film is meant to be account of a very traumatic period of time for a person of color that was treated unjustly; why the [beep] would a movie like this one need to go in to ~deep~ detail about the intricacies of the system that was complicit in his maltreatment? To validate his situation???
2) It’s very clear even in this film that the caucasian characters that show the slightest bit of humanity are ultimately self-serving; none of the characters that would be considered charismatic given the overall context stick their necks out or even simply refuse to participate in the buying or selling of slaves at the end of the day. There is one - ONE. ONE. ONE. - white character that agrees to do Soloman a favor towards the end, but even that is met with some initial pushback due to some amount of fear or anxiety being present.
3) [This is where I reiterate point number 1]:
THIS FILM IS MEANT TO BE ACCOUNT OF A VERY TRAUMATIC PERIOD OF TIME FOR A PERSON OF COLOR THAT WAS TREATED UNJUSTLY; WHY THE [BEEP] WOULD A MOVIE LIKE THIS ONE NEED TO GO IN TO ~DEEP~ DETAIL ABOUT THE INTRICACIES OF THE SYSTEM THAT WAS COMPLICIT IN HIS MALTREATMENT? TO VALIDATE HIS SITUATION?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Films like this one are uncomfortable and distressing.
But they are too important.
They are just too [bleeping] important.
I would recommend!
There are some hard parts to watch but I would suggest it for a mature audience for sure.
That actually really hurt me to say.
I’ve been intrigued by McQueen’s career since his first feature film in 2008, ‘Hunger’. He had such a harsh and dominating style, one that drew you in to each solitary moment and held you there, sometimes for extended moments, to make you feel each and every fiber of the film. ‘Shame’ was a brilliant depiction of suffering, addiction and anguish and was filmed with such precision, necessary detachment and obvious passion. When it was announced that McQueen’s next film was going to be ’12 Years a Slave’ it was instantly one of my most anticipated of 2013. Often, the complaint thrown at films of this nature is that they are too sentimental and because of that they lack the harsh realism needed to make these stories truth telling. McQueen seemed like the perfect voice, because his sentimental values have always been subtle; instead offering us a coldness that felt more honest.
First, I want to express that ’12 Years a Slave’ is not a bad film at all. In fact, there is a lot to really admire about it. The story is a powerful one. Solomon Northrup, a free man living in New York, is betrayed by men appearing as friends, drugged and ultimately sold into slavery with no way of defending himself. He becomes a hired hand in Louisiana, tossed around from slave owner to slave owner because of his obvious learned background and his pent up frustrations (and refusal to be a dog). For 12 years he lived in slavery before his story was properly heard and passed along the proper channel and he was able to be reunited with his wife and children. This is a story that needed to be told, and one that I’m happy was told. As far as his story goes, it is told relatively well thanks to a beautiful performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who anchors this movie with such complete awareness of character.
But I’ll get back to that in a minute.
I say that his story is told relatively well because outside of Ejiofor’s performance, the story, I feel, is somewhat mishandled. McQueen’s approach to this film is vastly different from the way he attacked his previous two features, and I’m not sure if that was intentional, but there is something amiss here. When it was first announced that this film was being made, I declared that there was no way this was going to be an Oscar player. McQueen is too harsh a filmmaker, too honest. There is no way that the Academy, a body made up largely of elderly white men, is going to embrace a film about the harsh realities of racism and slavery. I was baffled when it started to pick up such steam in the race for Best Picture of the Year, but now that I’ve seen the film, it all makes sense.
This is Steve McQueen’s ‘Schindler’s List’.
I know that that doesn’t sound like a particularly bad thing, and in all honesty I do feel that ‘Schindler’s List’ is a very good film (I even said earlier in this review that this was a good film as well), but I have always felt detached from ‘Schindler’s List’ for a very specific reason, and it is the same reason that I feel detached from McQueen’s film; it’s far too clinical. ’12 Years a Slave’ tries too hard to be too perfect, too correct, but unlike ‘Schindler’s List’, not everyone in this film is up to the task of conveying this ‘correctness’, and because of that the film starts to falter.
While the entire cast has been lauded by critic after critic, there were only two performances here that I felt were honest enough, or grounded enough, to survive McQueen’s direction; Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong’o. These two performances held such authenticity in their movements. Ejiofor, as I mentioned above, is so aware of his character. He understands every layer of the man, and this is scene in the way he soaks in his surroundings in those giants wells he calls eyes. You can read every inner thought, and those thoughts are never ‘how do I act this scene’ (unlike a few of his co-stars). Instead, Ejiofor is living this performance. Some have commented that he is merely a walking ghost, but Northup WAS a ghost, for 12 years, constantly living in the horrors of loss and carrying the fear of death on his shoulders. What I found particularly alarming (in a good way) about Ejiofor’s performance was that you could sense his character not only taking in HIS surroundings, but also taking in the realities of a world he didn’t give much thought to before. He was a free black man. He had a job and a family and a home and was respected and beloved by men and women, black and white. While this was an atrocious situation for him to find himself, you can see that he is finally becoming aware of a world much larger than he was himself.
It is a true testament to the strength of this narrative that I am actually finding myself WANTING to like this movie more than I do as I’m writing this review.
Being honest can be hard.
Anyways, Nyong’o is the only other actor I felt reached Ejiofor’s depths (maybe not quite as deep, but close) of earthy realism. While many have criticized her performance for the very thing I’m criticizing this film for (trying too hard), I was truly moved by every hand gesture, every cringe, every single movement. It may have all been calculated (and I won’t deny that it was) but it felt so fluid and authentic, which is NOT the case with those around her.
Yes, I’m talking about Michael Fassbender, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Adepero Oduye and especially Brad Pitt (what in the WORLD was he doing?) and pretty much everyone in this film aside from the aforementioned and Benedict Cumberbatch. These performances felt too correct, too exact and because of that they feel forced, inauthentic and take me out of the film itself. Fassbender in particular (an actor I LOVE and have declared THE actor of his generation) is so out of his depth here. You can see him attempting to ‘portray’ in every scene as opposed to just living this character. It always feels like a performance. The whipping scene in particular is so disengaging, which is highlighted even more because both Nyong’o and Ejiofor are so IN that moment that when Fassbender comes over yelling and screaming and ACTING it almost made me cringe.
There are no words for what Brad Pitt did in this film. It was honestly a disgrace and one of the worst scenes in any film I’ve seen this year. It wasn’t even just his performance itself, which was awful, but the phrasing of the scene itself which felt so forced and abrupt.
That is another issue I have with ’12 Years a Slave’. There is absolutely NO consciousness of time here. 12 years come and go and for all I know it was a really long weekend. No one ages, no one truly grows, everything pretty much stays the same from scene one to scene whatever and it just all felt so singular. Maybe this was intentional. Maybe the idea was to make these 12 years feel like one elongated nightmare, but the passing of time is what would have made the trials heaped on Northup feel all the more harrowing, and so I think this element is a truly important one, and one that significantly hurt this film.
And then there is the actual harshness of the film. I’m not saying that I wanted ‘Passion of the Christ’ style gore here (and, for the record, I’ve never seen that film but know of its reputation) but I will say that I expected something more from McQueen in the depiction of the brutal realities of slavery. Maybe this should be linked alongside my issues with the film’s ‘correctness’, but it felt as if McQueen was holding back so much for fear of alienating his core audience; white people. I won’t say that he white washed this or sugar coated anything, and then again maybe I am. Outside of the fact that they were slaves (and the whipping scene and the scene where Paulson’s character threw a bottle of alcohol at Nyong’o’s face) this film never seemed to get into the gritty truth about the treatment of these people, and that is a shame. Even the rape scene felt oddly reserved.
For all of these criticisms, I’ve said and will continue to say that ’12 Years a Slave’ is a good film. Its Oscar win is actually understandable under the circumstances. This was a way for Hollywood to say ‘what was done was wrong’ on their own terms, and it does get the point across. Hollywood loves a technically ‘perfect’ film that allows them to detach and not really ‘feel’ but still act like they do.