Film: 12 Years a Slave

Tonight, I went to see 12 Years a Slave in my local cinema. At least I already had my ticket, so no dramas tonight! (See last night's post.)

I arrived two minutes before the scheduled showing time, and joined a steady stream of people coming to see the same film. I wouldn't have liked to be much later - the cinema was already mostly full. So, for the sake of getting a good seat, I advise early arrival - until the fuss dies down, at least. Of course, the large crowd meant some annoyances - a steady thump-thump of people plodding out to the toilet (and in again), and a couple of mobiles that weren't turned off. I saw one across the cinema from where I was, just as someone behind me called to them to please turn it off. Mind you, the couple right in front of me seemed to have their Blackberry on for the whole film. Honestly, if you're that uninterested, stay home and play with your Blackberry, and stop distracting the rest of us! Hate that.

Ah yes, the film. By this stage, everyone knows the story - it's based on the true story of a black violinist from New York state, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. And in slavery he languished, for 12 years, until he chanced across someone who agreed to help him, and he was saved. And duly wrote a book about it, which is now a film. There are a few famous faces in this - Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender as a violent drunk, married to an embittered Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard, whom I thought I knew from somewhere and it turns out to be True Blood - but the film belongs to the lead actor, who plays the unfortunate, wrongly enslaved man Solomon Northup.

At the start of the film, I wondered at the lack of emotion. By the end, I realised why they'd underplayed it - any more emotion would have been overload. And anyway, this was just matter-of-fact to the whites in the business of trading in, or owning, slaves. It reminded me of the tv series Roots, in content and in intensity. The slave traders are as callous as you would expect, the slave owners can be kind or cruel, but ultimately are in the business of maintaining their own interests. Aren't we all, really? Personally, I found the plantation owners' wives interesting. They came across as kind, compassionate - but show them a slave that is considered wayward, and you will quickly see whose side they support.

All the scenes you would expect are here - the beatings, the running away, the rape. Two scenes merit mention. In one, the plantation owner is flaunting one of the slaves, with whom he is having an affair, in front of his wife, who demands he get rid of the slave or she will leave him. Whereupon she discovers just how little power she has, as he tells her that he would rather be rid of her than of the slave.

Another scene has our hero, before his kidnapping, out shopping with his family. A white man is passing the shop where they are. His slave is astonished to see these black people, unaccompanied by white masters, chatting to the shopkeeper. The slave enters the shop, as if in a trance. The shopkeeper thinks he is another customer, until his master misses him and comes to get him, apologising for the intrusion. Solomon tells him that's quite all right. The slave owner, unsettled by this black man speaking to him as an equal, ignores him, bids farewell to the shopkeeper, and leaves with his slave.

Telling, indeed. A very good film, particularly moving when he regains his freedom.

A break from films for the weekend - tomorrow, I'm heading to the National Theatre to see From Morning to Midnight, and on Sunday I plan to head to the London Ice Sculpting Festival, at Canary Wharf. Should be lovely, especially with the buildings of the financial district as a backdrop. And once the sun goes down, that's a lovely part of town, with the lights.. I see the Jubilee Line is partly closed on Sunday, for engineering works. I'd normally go that way, and Google Maps, for once, doesn't seem to know about the closure! but TFL is always reliable, and I like their suggestion to take the DLR. That'll be a first for me..