Twelve Years a Slave

[Invader Zim]

Watched this film yesterday and I really enjoyed it. It is a very difficult film to watch, and it does not shy away from the obscene (physical, emotional and sexual) violence of chattel slavery. In other words, the film is very hard going and not for the squeamish.

I went to see the film with a friend of mine who is an expert on slavery in the American south, and she was very impressed by the film and commented on the numerous small touches in the film alluding to historical phenomenon associated with slavery.

[Manic Impressive]

I'm really looking forward to seeing the film. I've looked into the story behind it and it's fascinating. Glad it lived up to expectations for you.

[Devrim]

I saw it a couple of weeks ago. I know that it has got very favourable reviews, but I found it terribly boring. If I had been on my own, I certainly wouldn't have bothered watching it through to the end, which isn't something I say about many things. It was just so tedious.

Devrim

[Invader Zim]

So others have said in IMDb reviews - I find that a particularly difficult view to understand given that the film I watched was very far from boring.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Where could I see this movie?

[Marshal of the People]

Where could I see this movie?
At a cinema, or when it comes out on DVD you could purchase or hire it.

[Brutus]

Saw it today, and it was bloody brilliant.

[The Feral Underclass]

It's a very good film, but it's not saying anything new.

[Prometeo liberado]

Where could I see this movie?

You have heard of theatres right? Well in these "theatres" movies are shown. Here is where you may ant to start your quest.

[Invader Zim]

There are some aspects of it which I don't think hold up as well as others. For instance, the film portrays Northup as a respected middle class individual. While certainly free, and well educated, and living in the relatively liberal North, it strikes me as a truism to note that even that society was, in the first half of the 19th century extremely racist by modern standards. That, I think, is lost in this telling. Meanwhile, in the actual autobiography Northup presents himself as a relatively, though not hugely, affluent farmer and laborer who provided additional income for his family as an occasional musician. Meanwhile his wife also provided additional funds as a cook. Certainly not impoverished, but hardly middle class.

[Invader Zim]

It's a very good film, but it's not saying anything new.

Well, obviously not. The memoir it is based on was written in 1853. However, it is original in that cinema has traditionally shied away from the subject of slavery and only very rarely given it sustained examination in the thematic fashion that this film does. It is very difficult to envision how any movie can say something original when dealing with a very well trodden historical phenomenon, moreover a phenomenon that has generated so considerable a literature. Similarly, even oft-touted 'ground breaking' cinematic 'landmarks' dealing with historical themes, such as Saving Private Ryan which overturned the typical 'good war' narrative of the Second World War, do not really say anything you couldn't learn about the war from reading memoirs.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Saw trailer for it. Slavery was bad, but happened hundreds of years ago. All this movie does is stir up racial conflict. If we want racism to be a thing of the past then we should treat it as such.

Lol, wot?


You have heard of theatres right? Well in these "theatres" moves are shown. Here is where you may ant to start your quest.

Oh, great, it's one of those "talkies," everyones jawin on about? I am not sitting through that. You realize those moving pictures are a fad? I predict they'll fade out soon. Guess ill just wait till it comes out in radio serials (you know, a real entertainment medium).

[Invader Zim]

Saw trailer for it. Slavery was bad, but happened hundreds of years ago. All this movie does is stir up racial conflict. If we want racism to be a thing of the past then we should treat it as such.

Firstly, slavery did not 'happen' 'hundreds of years ago', slavery still exists today. Even within the US context it ended only in 1865, still less than 150 years ago. Moreover, its effects are still very much in evidence.

Secondly, how does a movie telling a largely true story about a man's life 'stir up racial conflict'?

Thirdly, how does a film about the past transplant those events, and the ideology and motivations behind those events, into the present? Or is this a wider critique of explaining highly unpleasant aspects of the human past? Surely, understanding the past is essential in understanding how society operates today? Or do you suggest that history should not be taught to school children, on the basis that understanding history somehow indoctrinates people to behave in the same manner as historical actors?

[Sinister Intents]

Saw trailer for it. Slavery was bad, but happened hundreds of years ago. All this movie does is stir up racial conflict. If we want racism to be a thing of the past then we should treat it as such.

Slavery still goes on today... not just hundreds of years ago, people live in slavery now and their exists wage slavery as well. Stirs up racial conflict? I think that can happen with many movies, racism is an economic and social construction used to divide people up, to get rid of it we need destroy the economic root of it and educate people.

This movie seems really interesting

[Prometeo liberado]

Vox Populi;2713353]Lol, wot?I was thinking the same thing. WTF????



Oh, great, it's one of those "talkies," everyones jawin on about? I am not sitting through that. You realize those moving pictures are a fad? I predict they'll fade out soon. Guess ill just wait till it comes out in radio serials (you know, a real entertainment medium)
LOL!!! Checkmate. I acquiesce.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Saw trailer for it. Slavery was bad, but happened hundreds of years ago. All this movie does is stir up racial conflict. If we want racism to be a thing of the past then we should treat it as such.

Keep digging that hole bolsickle, dig it deeper. How does it stir racial conflict? Does it make the mean black people angry? Is it going to create some race war?

[Remus Bleys]

Saw trailer for it. Slavery was bad, but happened hundreds of years ago. All this movie does is stir up racial conflict. If we want racism to be a thing of the past then we should treat it as such.

Hey Bolshevik sickle this is the reason I want you and all of your socks banned.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Saw trailer for it. Slavery was bad, but happened hundreds of years ago. All this movie does is stir up racial conflict. If we want racism to be a thing of the past then we should treat it as such.

hmmm, nope
Racism is not a thing of the past and if we wan't to do anything about that we need to talk about the history of white supremacy and how minorities are discriminated against today.

[Yuppie Grinder]

lolololol

[brigadista]

Book is better

[Per Levy]

Please don't ban me...

...again, you mean.

[Sinister Intents]

Please don't ban me

I think you not being banned again is a sign you're being given a chance to stay, but you gotta improve yourself. You obviously like RevLeft, so why not take this as a chance to improve and grow, and you can stay and become a better contributor

[Sentinel]

I think you not being banned again is a sign you're being given a chance to stay, but you gotta improve yourself. You obviously like RevLeft, so why not take this as a chance to improve and grow, and you can stay and become a better contributor


Nope, seems they just flew under the radar for a while, but have now been banned again. Looking at their contributions I doubt they will be let back here in the future either.

[Arlekino]

I watched today honestly my body was shaken, too much violent, horror film. I could not bare to see such as bloody heating woman. Not my taste at all. Don't deserve it Oscars.

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

This is one of the movies, up there with Schindler's List and Grave of the Fireflies, that is REALLY hard to watch.

A friend of mine probably said it best: "It's the greatest movie I never want to see again."

[Full Metal Bolshevik]

This is one of the movies, up there with Schindler's List and Grave of the Fireflies, that is REALLY hard to watch.

A friend of mine probably said it best: "It's the greatest movie I never want to see again."
Try Hadashi No Gen. Not as great as those you listed (but still good), but it's equally or even more horrifying. It's about what the victims of the atomic bomb witnessed.

About 12 Years a Slave, I liked it a lot, but it's not my favourite for the Oscars, that'd be Wolf of Wallstreet.
And I have a feeling, despite being critically acclaimed, that it won't win many Oscars, at least in the main categories.

[Marshal of the People]

My Modern History class and I might go to see this very film at the cinema.

[SHORAS]

I don't understand all the comments here and elsewhere about how difficult it was to watch. It was semi-enlightening, particular about people being kidnapped into slavery and so on but not particularly interesting or enjoyable to watch dramatically, cinematography wise etc

A short while after I had seen it someone was snobbishly praising it in comparison to the Tarantino film. What he didn't point out was that the film he loved so much showed submissive, passive, obedient slaves whereas the one he hated so much...well it portrayed something quite different. I didn't think this was a coincidence. I thought both films were mediocre, probably above average.

[Rosa Partizan]

I saw it two days ago, I found a cinema where it ran in English, I really hate German synch. Well, it was awesome. Some scenes were really hard to watch. It was less those brutal ones (except the whipping shortly before the end) but more this kind of banal, daily acts of contempt, like waking up the slaves and having them dance, or the master singing racist songs while working on the field...those were moments when I was like, wtf is this, I can't stand this shit, gotta get outta here. At the end, I literally cried my eyes out, so staying paid off for sure.