12 Years a Slave

I saw 12 Years a Slave two nights ago.  I was reluctant to see what I had heard was a difficult film to view.  It was that.  But I walked out of the theater feeling as if I had seen an explanation for much of the craziness that exists even now in this country.  Slaves were brutalized by their “owners.”  And the owners may have gotten rich from slave labor, but they were not made happy.  The movie made it clear that trying to own another human being was a constant stress, and while the master might control the slave’s behavior, he could not own the person.  So all lived in painful insanity.  And we live with the legacy of that insanity still today.

There is a way that I knew most of the facts contained in the film.  However, the film conveyed the tension between slave and master in such a way, that I left thinking, yes, that’s how it would have to have been.  There was a visceral understanding of what was before mostly intellectual.  Before the movie, I picked up the idea that I needed to see this movie to understand something important about my country.  I believe this is true and highly recommend this movie.

The review from the Guardian is here.  If you live near Three Oaks, Michigan, you have until December 15 to see this film at The Vickers.