Page to Screen: 12 Years A Slave

Last week I reviewed the book 12 Years A Slave. This weekend I saw the movie adaptation of the book, also titled 12 Years A Slave. Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of the movie and that it’s been nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Actor, Michael Fassbender for Best Supporting Actor, Lupita Nyong’o for Best Supporting Actress and Steve McQueen for Best Director.

I found the movie to be a great adaptation of the book. Some things were condensed or not explained in as much detail as they were in the book but the overall sense of the dreadful life of a slave was still there. The story is told in a non-linear fashion with flashbacks to Solomon’s life before he was kidnapped into slavery. The one thing that really bothered me was the opening scene in which Solomon is having sex with another slave. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that in the book, Solomon is faithful to his wife during his entire time in slavery. I’m not really sure what the purpose of the sex scene was supposed to be. If you have an idea of why it was included, please tell me!

The movie is produced by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B. I found it funny that Brad Pitt cast himself as the one truly good guy in the South, even though it’s a very small role. His character is originally from Canada but had a southern accent. Did Canadians speak with the accent they have now – aboot for about and the like – back in the 1800s? I would have liked him to speak that way. Ejiofor, who plays Solomon was phenomenal. At times, the camera would just stay on a silent close-up of his face for several seconds and his agony was palpable. That’s a testament to McQeen’s great directing as well.

Fassbender was really good, but there’s no way he’ll beat Jared Leto of Dallas Buyer’s Club for Best Supporting Actor. Nyong’o was fabulous and she had some of the hardest, most emotional scenes of the movie. I think she deserves to win Best Supporting Actress for sure.

This was a hard but wonderful movie. I think that if you read the book first, you’ll have a more in depth understanding of events but even without having read the book, I think you’ll find the movie fantastic.