Skip to main content

12 years a slave | 2013

Imatge relacionada



12 years a slave surprised me. As I had read lots of reviews that said that this was a very hard film, I thought I would see explicit violence everywhere, and in fact I did but not in the way I imagined. You don't cry, I could say that when you finish the movie you could think it wasn't as dramatic as I thought but when afterwards you start to think carefully of what you've seen, you know that this is a brilliant movie that it's going to stay with you for some time, at least, and that you're going to remember. 

This film is a masterpiece full of amazing performances starting by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender and ending with the supporting actors. They do masterly performances. The cinematography is stunning as well, the photography, the script... the entire movie. As for the story, it is not very complicated or original, despite the fact is based on real events; a free, cult, black man is captured and sold as a slave. As he has never been a slave his perspective of life is different than from the other slaves but this, in a cotton camp, causes you lots of problems. Solomon, the protagonist, works and tries to save his life without despair because he knows that this is the only way to get out of all this. 

Steve McQueen shows the spectator how cruel and hard the life was on those places, showing the lashes, the wounds, the feelings, the hopeless people....And those close-ups he uses to show it are really amazing. But one of the most remarkable scenes showed how Solomon was hanging, trying to stand on his foot into the ground and anyone helps him, all the negreos continue their life as if nothing had happened. Really stunning. 

To finish off - what it could be a never ending ode - I noticed a parallelism with Schindler's list by Steven Spielberg. In the Schindler's list film, Amon (Ralph Fiennes) is in love with a jew girl, Helen. In 12 years a slave, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) is in love with Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) and both of them are mistreated by the men. 

Nominated for several Golden Globes this could, and probably it's going to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, among with Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (M.Fassbender) and some more. A must see, for sure. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

joker | 2019

Is Joaquin Phoenix's performance of the Joker worth an Oscar nomination? Yes. Ok, but, besides that, why is everybody so hyped by this film? Because we've seen a movie with plenty of superheroes hit the box office this year and now, six months later, just one man, a villain, is stealing the whole show. The one thing that hyped me the most was reading, when the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival back in September, that this movie didn't have special effects, that it was organic.   I know, I'm not going to say anything you've already read on any film magazine or twitter, instagram or your friends may have commented but I needed to post this.  Joker is a movie that is undoubtedly influenced by Scorsese's films, such as Taxi Driver (1976) and presents a Gotham that reminds us of the 1970's New York. One of the things I liked the most is the contextualisation of the action, because it helped to understand and empathize with Arthur Fleck, the
Post a Comment
Read more

the kings of summer | 2013

First of all, I wanted to express that I was able to watch that movie because I went to an indie film festival, Americana Film Festival, who has just opened this year and that I hope we can experience for many years from now on. The "american family" that created the festival Americana, decided that the inaugural film would be The Kings of Summer. After some presentations and the presentation of the festival itself, the movie was projected.  The Kings of Summer is a movie about teenagers that everyone can see and is equally going to enjoy it. Because even if they are teenagers, children, adults of even elders they are all going to be identified with the boys that appear. Everyone has had or would like to live on their own without parents or family talking and in some way it seems "bothering" you. This is what the movie talks about. Three guys run away from their houses and build a house in the middle of the woods where they are going to live with their
Post a Comment
Read more

yesterday | 2019

Yesterday -  directed by the great Danny Boyle and written by the genius Richard Curtis - is, without a doubt, "the feel-good movie" of the summer.  This film is a rom-com, as Richard Curtis is the best writer of this kind of stories (Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, About Time or Love Actually), that recounters the story of Jack (Himesh Patel), an aspiring singer that cannot find the way to succeed, and Ellie (Lily James), his best friend, supporter, and manager that is secretly in love with him, even though everyone notices she is into him  except Jack.  As everyone in the world forgets who The Beatles are, Jack finds his opportunity to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer, but he will have to face the struggles of fame and its impact on her friendship with Ellie.  With this movie, you have the opportunity to listen to the great songs of The Beatles and watch this love story, with two actors that have great chemistry on screen. Also, there i
Post a Comment
Read more