Email forwarded by jks weerasekara
The film that yells out
American atrocities to the world !
Over the weekend at the Odeon Cinema in Swiss Cottage, North West London, I watched the much-lauded film – “ 12 Years a Slave” made by British director Steve McQueen.
Having read a lot about the film beforehand, and wondering how it could be different from that of gun-toting Hollywood Westerns we usually had seen with Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and the like, I expected to see a similar story full of customary American violence and pillage in latest digital film techniques. No, this was not one of those, but a complete different creation which made viewers to look back at the history in horror, dismay and anger. In my opinion, ‘12 Years a Slave,’ an extraordinary true story which is cinematically superbly done, should be screened all over the world to reveal sheer capacity and capability of American brutality, ruthlessness and sadism emanating from the mentality of white-supremacy.
The story is an adaptation of the 1853 memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free Negro who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. He worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before his release.
One American writer described it as "easily the greatest feature film ever made about American slavery." All across America the film is enabling a discussion about the horror of slavery. Many people have asked why it has taken so long for a film to address America's past.
In the meantime, I read an article in London Guardian newspaper about this film which ended the writer asking this question: “Will there be a day when a British film attempts to depict the horrors of our colonial past, not in a heroic sense, as in Zulu, but in an honest examination of the evil that was perpetrated in the name of empire?”
I don’t know about others, but my answer to the above is " NO"
12 Years a Slave received critical acclaim following its release in 2013, and was named the best film of the year by several media outlets. In 2014, the film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and received nine Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for McQueen, Best Actor for Ejiofor, Best Supporting Actor for Fassbender, and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) recognised the film with its Best Film award two weeks ago (16 February 2014) with Ejiofor winning the BAFTA for Best Actor.
What makes this film so memorable and powerful are the complex portrayals of the slaves who, broken and paralyzed with existential fear, could do nothing to stop the barbarism yet managed to survive. I presume this ability of endurance and survival is a unique trait factor common to all African nations, because no other nation suffered as slaves like they did from biblical times to the very recent past.
The main role of the film is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, OBE, an acclaimed British actor of Nigerian descent. He has received numerous acting awards and nominations for films and drama. In 2008, Ejiofor was presented with an OBE by the Queen for services to the arts.
12 Years a Slave is about the slavery mainly took place in America. While black people all over the world are united in condemning white atrocity and supremacy, other nationalities too echo and share the same sentiments and sympathise with the blacks. But if the film is seen by other countries, for whom slavery is not a familiar occurrence in their socities, what would they make out of this film?
For them, I think, contents of this film will be a real testimony to America’s exact behaviour towards small countries, especially the Far East and Middle Eastern ones. Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or Sri Lankamust reckon that 12 Years a Slave is not just a story belonged to the past, but a revelation of oncoming events to be expected sooner or later and that it talks about American mentality in the coherent present tense.
Don’t miss this film. See if it’s playing near you !
- D R
