Based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black American who was kidnapped in New York in 1841 and spent 12 years in slavery, this is a hard film to watch. It has been much publicised and is hotly tipped for Baftas and Oscars.
Director Steve McQueen (I can never see that name without thinking of a motorbike leaping over barbed wire fences in 1940s Germany) pulls no punches in portraying the brutality of slavery, and it is not for the squeamish. One man next to me kept covering his eyes; a woman next to my wife squeaked and gasped from time to time.
The peculiar thing is, it leaves one very little to talk about. It raises no new moral issues, just emphasises how bad a bad institution really was; it does not add anything to 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', and is actually less subtle and nuanced than that peerless book.
It is however a good and powerful film, and the acting is of high quality. One is faced with the conundrum of human wickedness, in people who should have known so much better. But when human beings are regarded as possessions, almost anything is possible.
I think Hilary and I have had our ration of films for the year!
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