"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!"
...Or, so said the Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men.
Well America, TRUTH has been served with all the trimmings. And, we'll see how your taste buds respond to the bitterness. Prepare yourself for the most heartrendingly honest and agonizingly vivid depiction of slavery ever portrayed on the silver screen.
This film is a dramatic adaptation of the 1853 historical autobiography Twelve Years a Slave written by Solomon Northup. Directed by Steve McQueen and screen-written by John Ridley, the film magnificently describes the turbulent trials of Northup, a free Black citizen of New York, who was kidnapped in the shadow of the nation's capital, sold into slavery and transported to Louisiana to live in perpetual torment for 12 horrific years.
The book itself is masterfully written in an elevated prose reminiscent of Dubois' The Souls of Black Folk. In the age of tweeting and texting, 12 Years stands as a 19th Century triumph of linguistic dexterity putting the average American college graduate of today to shame. In describing a particularly barbaric slaver, Northrup pens:
"Yet to speak truthfully of Edwin Epps would be to say -- he is a man in whose heart the quality of kindness or of justice is not found. A rough, rude energy united with an uncultivated mind and an avaricious spirit, are his prominent characteristics. He is known as a "nigger breaker," distinguished for his faculty of subduing the spirit of the slave, and priding himself upon his reputation in this respect, as a jockey boasts of his skill in managing a refractory horse. He looked upon the colored man, not as a human being, responsible to his Creator for the small talent entrusted to him, but as a "chattel personal," as mere live property, no better, except in value, than his mule or dog...He could have stood unmoved and seen the tongues of his poor slaves torn out by the roots -- he could have seen them burned to ashes over a slow fire, or gnawed to death by dogs, if it only brought him profit. Such a hard, cruel, unjust man is Edwin Epps...Ten years I toiled for that man without reward. Ten years of my incessant labor has contributed to increase the bulk of his possessions. Ten years I was compelled to address him with down-cast eyes and uncovered head -- in the attitude and language of a slave. I am indebted to him for nothing, save undeserved abuse and stripes."
After reading the book, I was skeptical the filmmakers could muster the courage to give cinematic clarity to the unmitigated inhumanity blanketing the pages of Northrup's masterpiece. Well, congratulations, Messrs. McQueen and Ridley! You have accomplished a monumental feat in visual storytelling...as convincingly as 12 years of captivity and debasement at the hands of the brutish, the beastly, and the ignorant could be told in the span of two hours.
Chiwetel Ujiofor delivers a tour de force performance as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender and Sarah Paulson are also magnificent as the villainous Master and Mistress Epps. But, who can remain unmoved by the unrelenting torment, treachery and turmoil heaped upon poor Patsy played by Lupita Nyong? The youth and innocence of Patsy stole our hearts...leaving us in tears at her unfathomable plight. Our hearts having been stolen, perhaps Nyong's spellbinding performance will steal the Oscar.
Morgan Freeman stated that he was reluctant to see the film because, "I don't want my anger quotient exacerbated..." In a backhanded compliment, another reviewer referred to 12 Years as, "the film for folks too smart for The Butler." Due respect to those distinguished gentlemen, but I think their statements are both flippant and misguided!!
Mark Twain once said, "A man need be reminded much more often than he need be instructed." Accordingly, this film serves as a vividly brilliant reminder! It gazes into our brutal past equipping us with insight through hindsight. That insight clears our vision to see seeds of ignorance and intolerance sprouting in our very midst. If that insight makes movie goers "too smart," then thank goodness! You see, Mr. Freeman, I'm much more concerned with the "intelligence quotient" than the "anger quotient." In fact, intelligence is often an antidote for anger. (Take a hint Tea Party.)
Mark Twain once said, "A man need be reminded much more often than he need be instructed." Accordingly, this film serves as a vividly brilliant reminder! It gazes into our brutal past equipping us with insight through hindsight. That insight clears our vision to see seeds of ignorance and intolerance sprouting in our very midst. If that insight makes movie goers "too smart," then thank goodness! You see, Mr. Freeman, I'm much more concerned with the "intelligence quotient" than the "anger quotient." In fact, intelligence is often an antidote for anger. (Take a hint Tea Party.)
As the hauntingly evocative soundtrack continues to echo in my head, thoughts drift back to Patsy....that tragic soul exemplifying the fate of so many enslaved African women...last seen staring despairingly as her former comrade strides toward freedom...and she remains mired in thralldom not so far from New Orleans' frolicking French Quarter.
In my personal "production," I imagine one song added to the soundtrack, "Le Front Caché sur Tes Genoux" by Cecile McLorin Salvant. Salvant is a 23 year-old Miami born jazz vocalist of French and Haitian descent. "Le Front Cache sur Tes Genoux" is loosely translated as "the hidden face on your knees." It is a sorrowful tune which, although sung in French, reaches back and borrows the voice of those enslaved Africans whose faces are forever hidden...forced to their knees, if not by the lash, most certainly in prayer.
In my actively optimistic imagination, Patsy finally escapes the cruel clutches of slavery, secures her "freedom papers" and finds her way to a stage in the French Quarter... telling her story through Salvant's song... and renaming it, "Patsy's Theme."
In my actively optimistic imagination, Patsy finally escapes the cruel clutches of slavery, secures her "freedom papers" and finds her way to a stage in the French Quarter... telling her story through Salvant's song... and renaming it, "Patsy's Theme."
...and at a table in the corner of that dimly lit groggery sits Solomon Northup, eyes transfixed and heart overflowing...he proudly and loudly proclaims "Now, THAT is the TRUTH...the whole TRUTH...and nothing but the TRUTH!"
HANDLE IT!
Until we rendezvous...
Peace!!
