12 Years a Slave

The best films are the ones that don't rely on dialogue, but on human emotion. Again Steve McQueen left me speechless. There are certain films in this world that leave you speechless and almost emotionless.

Steve McQueen is known for his 'edgy' films. His previous film Shame received an N-17 rating (a rating above R) and was known for its graphic content, but his debut film Hunger received renown praise. So my curiosity in 12 Years a Slave arose. He has an interesting style of filming; lack of dialogue, but every shot is important. There were many critical scenes in this film and many that stood out to me, the most critical scene to myself was the funeral. Solomon Northup refuses to join the other slaves in the song, but then relents. It was critical because it was the moment Northup admitted that he was a slave. It was pivotal. You could see him surrendering to his situation.

A film that relies heavily on emotion and does not rely a lot on dialogue, good actors that can pull heavy emotion off without being over dramatic are hard to come by. The actors were brilliant. I had never been so frightened then seeing the madness in Epps' eyes as he whipped Patsey over and over again. It was the worst scene to watch.
The emotion in this film was heavy and almost left you emotionless. Possibly because it is so difficult to wrap your head around the concept. That human beings could be so cruel to another human being; that a human could have such a warped idea of what another human is worth. Slavery in America has never ceased to shock me in how dehumanizing it was, that white Americans truly thought African Americans were animals. That they were not better than their dog or their horse.
It is almost next to impossible to muster enough emotion to cry, it is unfathomable to imagine that pain that Northup went through for twelve years. The realization doesn't even hit you until the very end of the film when Northup returns home and sees his daughter and son both grown. His daughter is married and has a baby. He missed those twelve years of his life.

Many reviewers have complained that the ending ended almost hopeless. He left Patsey behind to the mercy of Epps. The men who kidnapped him were never brought to justice, Epps was never brought to justice. Everything just seems very hopeless. But that is the beauty in McQueen's work. He shows how it is and how it was. Yes, Northup was returned to his family, but twelve years was ripped from him. There were still thousands of slaves who were under their masters. There were still the other possible hundred slaves under Epps. McQueen gives you the facts and how it was and we come up with our own conclusion.

Emma Watches: Land and Freedom

For those of you who can't guess what this post may be about; this post is my reaction to the Ken Loach film Land and Freedom. Ken Loach English film director and is known for mainly being a social realist. My oldest brother, Matt introduced me to Ken Loach little over a year ago when he told me of a must see movie called The Wind that Shakes the Barley (anyone who hasn't seen this film, MUST see it! At least once!). And after watching another Ken Loach movie (Kes), I found Land and Freedom and was intrigued by the story.

The film takes place during the Spanish Civil War and tells the story of David Carr, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The thing that intrigued me about the movie, was that it was about Communists revolting against fascists. Being American and the daughter (and granddaughter) of a Cold War Era father (and grandfather) there has always been this fear of Communism, but after watching this movie I realized that everything isn't so black and white. In the film, David Carr (the narrator of the film) writes home to his love, Kit, telling her about the equality they all had. How everything was voted on. And really it sounded like a nice thing. Everyone was paid the same, everyone was treated equally.

Really, the idea of Communism isn't all that bad. The idea of a society where everyone shares everything and where everyone is equal sounds like utopia. But unfortunately, it is unrealistic. Because everyone thinks differently and really, in all honesty no one can truly be equal. This is seen when fighting breaks out between two militias (that were supposed to be fighting the same war against the Fascists). They shouldn't be fighting one another, and yet they are. They both stood for something different. One side wanted aid from Stalin (leader of the Soviet Union. Aid from Stalin would mean that the POUM or other militias would lose their independence and be under the Soviet Union) and the other wanted to keep their independence and not be Stalin's pawn.

So after years of thinking Communism was an 'evil' thing, this movie made me was almost a wake up call. Not everything is black and white. I was never good at talking about political movies, because usually I don't think I know what I'm talking about and end up sounding like an idiot. Before watching this film I didn't even know Spain had a civil war. Spain is just one of those countries that you just never learn about. It was an interesting portrayal of Communism and does keep you thinking after wards.

These are just thoughts I had on the film, some of my ideas may be wrong, but these are just thoughts...