“I was born free. For more than thirty years, I have tasted the joys of this freedom in a free state. I was then kidnapped and sold as a slave, remaining in this condition of enslavement until someone came to help me, in January 1853, after twelve years of captivity. This is how Solomon Northup begins the story of Twelve years of slavery in which, meticulously, the former New York violinist unfolds the film of his descent into hell. A ordeal endured for centuries by millions of women, men and children on plantations in the southern states. It is one of the rare testimonies written by a literate man: it is all the more precious. Director Steve McQueen (Hunger) had long sought to “tell slavery from the perspective of slaves”, but felt somewhat lost: “Where to start? He then discovered the work thanks to his historian wife.
“This book full of adventure, horror and humanity has left us speechless. “McQueen decided to make a film on this still painful theme because there is, in his eyes, none satisfactory on the twenty identified:” They do not show reality and only rarely adopt the victims’ point of view. Americans are ashamed of this particularly horrible, violent and disgusting period in their history. It is time to look her in the face, without taboos. Even if, for many, slavery was still like an elephant planted in the middle of the living room which nobody wants to talk about! McQueen seizes him by the defenses. The charismatic Chiwetel Ejiofor embodies Northup with lightning humanity. Through his eyes, like Solomon in his time, we discover all the ignominy of a system, a real boon for perverts and sociopaths of all stripes. Suffice to say that adapting this chronicle of survival in a hostile and cruel environment is sometimes unsustainable. The lashes rip the skin.
Like its main performer, the entire cast excels. The director has surrounded himself with his faithful Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch to play the planters, the unknown Lupita Nyong’o, whose talent he reveals to the world, and Brad Pitt, to whom he owes a lot. “It was thanks to him that I was able to make the film. He is a great actor and an excellent producer. “This historic tragedy,” people are ready to face it “, McQueen estimated in 2014. The recent” case “Gone with the Wind, the classic of the 7th art, now considered – and presented – as revisionist for the “happy” image of the servitude it conveys, confirms it. Like 12 Years a Slave, beyond their differences in styles, Tarantino’s Django Unchained also invites you to remember. “In Louisiana, it felt like waking up ghosts and dancing with them,” says Chiwetel Ejiofor, moved. This film is a monument erected in their memory.
Source: https://www.programme-television.org/news-tv/12-Years-a-Slave-France-2-Steve-McQueen-Les-Americains-ont-honte-de-cette-periode-de-leur-histoire-4660928
12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, France 2, Solomon Northup
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World news – EN – 12 Years a Slave (France 2) Steve McQueen: “Americans are ashamed of this period in their history”
