Is it just me or is there no sense of time during the movie? I don't remember a reference to how long Solomon was in captivity other than the films title.
I didn't seem like 12 years to me. If the film was called A Slave and someone told me after i'd seen the film that he was a slave for a couple of months i'd have believed them!
How this won any awards is beyond me. It's a great story that deserved to be told better.
12 Years a Slave?
More like 12 weeks a Slave. M I RITE?
This movie doesn't deserve one oscar. It was a total hack job mash up of previously told slave movies, only with less emotion, poorer acting, a useless score, and bad direction. Literally an amateur film on a big budget.
Is 22 million really a big budget, by any standards? I'm not sure what you mean by "hackjob" of "previously told slave stories", the plot and story pretty faithfully follows the source material from which it takes its name.
shareThe two biggest emotions that white supremacy STILL attempts to instill in people of color are a gradual sense of hopelessness that they can ever change their current station in life and a constant fear of violence if they, in fact, attempt to step outside of prescribed boundaries.
Therefore, part of what Mr. McQueen was attempting to portray was a small sense of the spirit bludgeoning drudgery of day to day slavery. And with it, the gradual sense of utter hopelessness (and with it docileness) that it was meant to produce. So your feelings of not having any way of knowing whether it was 12 weeks or 12 years were exactly what Mr. McQueen was trying to convey was being done to Solomon Northrup. It was intentional.
So give yourself a pat on the back that you're ignorant of the subtle machinations behind how institutionalized white supremacy works.
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
I'm sorry but i find that doubtful and more your interpretation of what you saw
shareLet me guess... Systematized racism and white supremacy are ancient history?
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
No that's not what i meant. I was referring to this comment:
" So your feelings of not having any way of knowing whether it was 12 weeks or 12 years were exactly what Mr. McQueen was trying to convey was being done to Solomon Northrup. It was intentional."
You might want to take the time to google even one of the dozens of interviews with Mr. McQueen about the film before you make this particular argument. Because in interview after interview the two things he had to repeatedly explain to shallow and lazy minds were the "excessive" violence and the passage of time.
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
Ok time taken and interviews read. I apologise, he did indeed intentionally not mention the duration throughout the film.
So the final scene is supposed to impact you with how long he's been away from his family then. It had no impact here i'm afraid.
I helped you with the other. This sounds more like a personal problem.
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
Ignore him. I agree with you. Slavery and prison stories can pull a lot from seasonal changes and historical passage to make the story and characters more true-to-life and impacted by their dire circumstances. Hell, the characters and storyline look like they could have happened in a month. Couldnt the slavers had kids and taught them how to use and abuse slaves, or the kids could have had an epiphany that slaving wasn't good for people nor the nation at a junction. 12YAS was basically linked scenes of him and his fellow slaves getting their asses whooped. I guess that was enough for the Academy to give her an Oscar. Even the ending was dull. I just hope he had that many kids before he was slave-napped. Mamma been busy!
shareI didn't seem like 12 years to me. If the film was called A Slave and someone told me after i'd seen the film that he was a slave for a couple of months i'd have believed them!Agreed 100%, this movie did NOT do a good job at depicting the time frame involved. It's an overall weak film. Makes you wonder what the true reason was for giving it awards.
How this won any awards is beyond me. It's a great story that deserved to be told better.
this movie did NOT do a good job at depicting the time frame involved
It's an overall weak film.
Makes you wonder what the true reason was for giving it awards.
I didn't think the movie showed a good sense of time, either. WE don't know how long Solomon was with Ford. He was obviously with Epps several years (planting seasons). In fact, the only time I realized the main character had ages was near the end when his hair was finally visibly greyer.
shareFhh
shareFTR, all television shows and movies give time transition visuals/clues. It's up to intelligent viewers to see and understand them. 12YAS gave plenty of transitions.
shareI honestly prefer this style, where the passage of time is more subtle. The Man Who Fell to Earth and Brokeback Mountain both do something similar.
I am an *beep* but my friends compensate for that.
The only weakness imo.
Should of aged him or him losing weight. Or supporting actors growing their hair. Legends of the fall did a real nice job conveying elapsed time.